Call for dedicated scribe bank as Board exams begin

There’s a need to promote a rare category of student volunteers who are well oriented and trained to scribe

Sharon Rachel Aby’s experience of appearing for Class X CBSE Board examinations last year was largely stress-free for two reasons. One, she is academically bright; and two, her school found a junior who was ready to scribe for her in all the six subjects she was taking exams in.

Sharon has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a rare degenerative disease that restricts hand movement, which means she debilitatingly slow-paced in her writing speed. At Spartan Exclusive School in Mogappair where she studied, she found Akshith of Class IX to scribe for her, and ensured they both had two to three sessions prior to the examinations to understand each other. Sharon scored 92.2% with a centum in French.

For some, finding a scribe can be a straightforward process, but for many students with disabilities it is a stressful experience, often one that causes them to depend on NGOs and personal networks.

School boards such as Indian Certificate of Secondary Education and Central Board of Secondary Education insist that the candidate can use their discretion in either opting for their own scribe/ reader or requesting the examination centre to provide one. They also insist that the qualification of the scribe be one step below the qualification of the candidate taking the examination.

The rules are different in the School Education Department of Tamil Nadu. Government school teachers are selected by the District Education Office to volunteer as scribes for Class X and XII Board examinations. Earlier, it had planned to appoint interested BEd students and Illam Thedi Kalvi volunteers, but that GO was dropped on February 19 after many disability groups objected to limited time in taking up this exercise.

In many cases, candidates who are homeschooled or writing exams through the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) have to fend for themselves when it comes to finding a scribe.