Ahmedabad: Results for 7.5 lakh Class 12 general and science stream students were declared on May 4, while results for 9 lakh Class 10 board students were declared on May 6. Nearly a fortnight later, 16.5 lakh students of the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) are still awaiting their marksheets.Sources said the delay is unprecedented, as the announcement of results and printing of marksheets typically take place simultaneously, with students usually receiving documents within a week of the results. In recent years, the gap had been as short as 3-4 days. They cited lack of coordination between agencies as a key reason.“In previous exams, the mark sheets were given with the Board hologram. Now the marksheets and certificates come with QR code for authenticity. Thus, one agency prints the marksheets, second fixes the QR code, and third one laminates it. The grapevine in Gandhinagar corridors suggested that some of the agencies involved in the process did not possess the required machinery,” said sources. “Thus, the job was outsourced to an agency in Hyderabad as the mark sheets were already printed and were ready about a week after the exam,” a top source in the state board said.With pressure mounting, GSHSEB officials on Tuesday announced that the board office will dispatch the marksheets and certificates on May 20, and the documents will be handed over to students on May 23, 20 days after the results were declared.MA Pandya, chairman of the GSHSEB, acknowledged the delay. “But it is only a few days more compared to the past years. The students will soon get the marksheets. We are coordinating with the stakeholders. This year, the delay is due to attaching QR codes,” he said.According to the update, the mark sheets will be handed over to district-level officials on May 20, reach respective schools on May 22, and be distributed to students on May 23.Bhaskar Patel, president of the School Administration Association of Gujarat, said the timeline has moved in the wrong direction. “The students require marksheet as a proof to submit at the time of their admission for the class 11 and colleges. It is a prerequisite for submitting the filled up form,” he said.Sources added that some agencies involved in preparing marksheets and certificates were earlier mired in controversy but still secured the contract this year.
