Chandigarh: A significant printing lapse disrupted the Class VIII science examination conducted by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) on Friday, after students discovered that a section of questions was missing from one of the Punjabi-medium paper sets.
The issue surfaced during the exam when candidates pointed out that three long-answer questions, each carrying five marks, were absent from the Punjabi version of the question booklet. The omission effectively reduced the total available marks by 15, creating confusion in examination halls across multiple districts.
The science paper is structured for a total of 80 marks and typically includes a mix of one-mark, two-mark, three-mark and three five-mark descriptive questions. However, in the affected Punjabi set, the five-mark questions were not printed at all, leaving students unable to attempt a significant portion of the assessment.
Invigilators at several centres were alerted by students soon after the examination began. A teacher supervising an examination centre in Amritsar confirmed that the discrepancy was quickly reported to higher authorities. Centre superintendents were compelled to seek urgent clarification to ensure that students were not unfairly disadvantaged.
Responding to the controversy, a spokesperson for PSEB stated that the matter has been taken seriously and that a meeting has been called by the board’s chairman to address the lapse. In the interim, instructions were issued to examination centres to refer to the English or Hindi versions of the question paper and translate the missing questions for students appearing in the Punjabi-medium set.
Education officials are now reviewing the circumstances that led to the error, while students and parents await clarity on how the board will ensure fairness in marking and evaluation following the incident.
