Unseen-Passage Marking: Content, Grammar, or Language?
At a PSEB Class 10 Sanskrit evaluation camp in Ludhiana, 42 scripts are being marked against an 80-mark key. The unseen passage (अपठितगद्यांश, 8 marks) describes a village library. Question 3, worth 2 marks, asks 'ग्रन्थालयः किमर्थं सेव्यते?' and the key records 'पुस्तकानाम् अध्ययनाय'. Script 17 answers 'ग्रन्थालये बहूनि पुस्तकानि सन्ति' - true of the passage but not the reason asked. Script 23 writes 'पुस्तकानि पठितुं ग्रन्थालयं गच्छेत्', which states the right reason but uses the optative गच्छेत् instead of the key's indicative. Script 31 answers in Punjabi: 'ਕਿਤਾਬਾਂ ਪੜ੍ਹਨ ਲਈ'. The head examiner's circular says Sanskrit-medium answers alone earn credit in this section; the candidate's centre claims she was coached to answer comprehension in Punjabi. The camp must clear 42 scripts before 5 p.m., and the assistant marker wants a ruling before proceeding.
1. Script 17's sentence is factually true of the passage. Should it receive 0, 1, or 2 marks? Record the ruling and the reasoning a moderator would expect.
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Award 0, with a marginal note. The question uses किमर्थम् ('for what purpose'), so the tested skill is retrieval of the stated purpose, not any true statement about the library. 'ग्रन्थालये बहूनि पुस्तकानि सन्ति' answers 'किम् अस्ति?', a different question. If the passage's sentence runs 'पुस्तकानि पठितुम् अध्ययनाय च ग्रन्थालयः सेव्यते', the pupil has stopped short of the reason clause. A marker may feel the pupil 'knew the passage', but marks follow the question, not general familiarity. If the camp decides that relevant-but-unasked content deserves 1, that concession must be written on the key and applied to all 42 scripts; consistency across scripts matters more than generosity in one.
2. Script 23 uses गच्छेत् where the key has an indicative. How many of the 2 marks should it get, and why?
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Award 2/2. The candidate supplies the asked reason (पुस्तकानि पठितुम्) in grammatical Sanskrit. गच्छेत् is विधिलिङ्, third person singular, and here carries the sense 'one should go', which matches the key's meaning; the indicative is one valid rendering, not the only one. A comprehension item tests whether the idea was understood. Unless the question says 'यथापाठम्' (as in the passage), variation of mood is not a defect. The marker should note the variant in the margin so a moderator sees the award was deliberate, and should check whether the same latitude is being given wherever optatives appear in the other 41 scripts.
3. Script 31 answers Q3 in Punjabi. What should the marker do before 5 p.m., and what is the substantive ruling?
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Do not resolve this alone. Procedurally: mark the rest of the script, leave Q3 unmarked, and refer the case in writing to the head examiner before the deadline, recording the centre and the candidate's claim. Substantively two principles collide - the circular restricting credit to Sanskrit-medium answers, and fairness to a candidate taught otherwise. The circular governs unless it is itself ambiguous; if ambiguous, benefit should follow the board's instruction on translation of answers, not the marker's sympathy. If the circular is clear, award 0 in this section but flag the script so the candidate is not penalised elsewhere, and recommend written intimation to the centre. Silently awarding marks exposes the whole camp.