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(Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE CHAKRADHARI SHARAN SINGH Date: 31-08-2015 What should be the mode and manner and what corrective measures would be essential for evaluation of answer sheets in a multiple choice question (MCQ) test, in the event, few questions are found to be incorrect for one reason or the other, withstanding the test of reasonableness, fairness in action and in conformity with principles of equality embodied under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India, is the foremost issue involved in the present batch of intra-Court appeals under Clause 10 of letters patent of this Court.

"Structure and Content of TET 6 The structure and content of the TET is given in the following paragraphs. All questions will be Multiple choice Questions (MCQs), each carrying one mark, with four alternatives out of which one answer will be correct. There will be no negative marking. The examining body should strictly adhere to the structure and content of the TET specified below.

13. In our view, therefore, the requirement that for a person to become a teacher, he must have scored, at least, 60% marks, at the Test, which is minimum qualifying percentage, subject to relaxation, if any, permitted under Clause 9 (a) of the of the guidelines, is statutory and mandatory.

14. Coming to the facts of the present case, we notice that the Bihar School Examination Board was assigned the responsibility of conducting the Teachers Eligibility Test for appointment of Urdu and Bangla teachers. An advertisement was issued from aspiring candidates to participate in the eligibility test. It has been submitted at the bar that approximately 2,50,000 applied for the test against the vacancy of 27,800 posts of Urdu/Bangla teachers. The test was held on 1st October, 2013. As per the guidelines issued by the Council, the test consisted of multiple choice questions (MCQ) in two papers, each of 150 maximum marks. We will be dealing with the method of evaluation of a candidate through multiple choice question test, at appropriate stage, with some details. We, however, point out, at Patna High Court LPA No.1287 of 2015 dt.31-08-2015 24 this stage, that it is a form of assessment in which the test takers are required to select the best of the possible answers out of the choices, suggested to them, from the list.

15. The question, in such type of test, consists of two parts, namely, the main part of the question, in any form, including "fill in the gap" or completing the statement in the main part to be answered or completed from the choices suggested in that question and so on. The main part and also the part, suggesting options or choices, together constitute a question.

16. In such circumstances, defect, in the main part of the question, which is technically called stem; or defective choices suggested to the main part of the question would render the question itself incorrect for the purpose of evaluation on answer given by the test taker. Out of multiple choices suggested to the test taker, only one choice is said to be correct answer for the question, which is called key answer; whereas other choices are called distractors. Normally, the bodies, which conduct such tests, prepare model answers, which are set of key answers for the purpose of computerised evaluation of the answer sheets.