Ministry says Dhivehi paper hasn’t lost its integrity, unconcerned over controversy

The Education Ministry says that it does not have any concerns over the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSC) Dhivehi paper that 12th graders across the country sat for on Sunday, even as scores of students and parents continue to take to social media to express concern over the paper’s reading comprehension and essay topic.

The controversy stems from the claim that students from the state-run Center for Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) in the capital has already practiced the same comprehension passage and the essay topic as part of the classwork, and had also discussed the former during the Dhivehi camp held ahead of the exam.

This has raised concerns that students from CHSE were given an unfair advantage over students from other schools, undermining the fairness of the exam, especially after it emerged that one of the school’s teachers had been involved in preparing the HSC Dhivehi paper.

A spokesperson from the Education Ministry told Sun on Monday afternoon that they do not have any concerns over the paper.

“The Ministry does not have any concerns regarding this. The paper has not lost its integrity either,” said the spokesperson.

Another key concern being raised on social media is the allegation that the passage contains material with sexual undertones that is not age appropriate for school students.

While the passage used in the paper was taken from a story with sexual innuendo suitable for a mature readership, Sun was not able to independently verify whether the passage included in the paper was the original version or a redacted one.

One high school Dhivehi teacher who spoke to Sun said that while he knows for a fact the comprehension passage itself is something the CHSE students had practiced beforehand, he is unable to say if the questions they practiced and the questions in the exam paper were the same.

He added that his students were unhappy that CHSE students got the chance to practice the essay topic beforehand, but suggested that a repeat of essay topics is not unusual, and could just be a coincidence.

Another teacher told Sun that the exam paper usually has two reading comprehensions, one of which is taken from a story. She said that given the usual length of stories, they are usually shortened for the purposes of the exam.

But she does not believe it a coincidence for the same passage as that done by CHSE students to be there in the exam paper, word-to-word.

One parent who spoke to Sun said she finds the whole situation unacceptable.

“How underhanded is this for students to have been made to practice A-level exam papers and passages and stuff beforehand. The same topic. The very same passage. Doesn’t this constitute to favoring specific students? This is completely unethical,” said the parent.

Scores of students and parents continue to raise their concerns over the Dhivehi paper on social media platforms.

Some have suggested that the results of the paper must be vacated and a new exam held for the students.