CBSE Paper Leak : Bengaluru students gets relief, board to held re-exams
Students outside the Chandigarh and NCR area can return to their post-exam glee, with the CBSE Board announcing on Friday afternoon that the board's re- exams will only be held in the areas where the leak actually took place. So far, students and parents alike panicked, having reached the end of the hectic exam season only to face the prospect of an extension.
"Students from other regions don't need to take a re-exam but there is still a lot of anxiety in the city," says Mansoor Khan, trustee, Delhi Public School. "We have been sending out emails and taking calls to reassure our students' families that there is no need for them to worry at the moment."
Addressing a press conference amid protests by students, school education secretary Anil Swarup said that the HRD Ministry has “substantial information” to believe that the Class X Mathematics paper was leaked only in Delhi NCR and Haryana, which is why the CBSE, if needed, will not have all 16 lakh students reappear for the paper. The final decision will be announced in two weeks, after a detailed inquiry.
Asked how a question paper leaked on WhatsApp could have only been seen by students of two states, Swarup said, “There are no perfect answers or perfect solutions to the problem that we have. We have been reliably told that the leak was restricted to the Delhi and Haryana region… We have to take the best possible decision based on the information that has been given to us.”
Justifying the difference in the ministry’s approach to the two leaks, Swarup said the decision to test all Class XII students on Economics again was taken to ensure they don’t face trouble in securing admission to colleges and universities. While the government can wait for police to wrap up its investigation for the Class X leak, it cannot afford any delay in case of Class XII students, he said.
Denying all allegations of examinations being compromised for other subjects, particularly Class XII Accountancy, the ministry assured that the CBSE has verified all complaints and found them to be false. Swarup said the government is open to verifying any fresh complaints or evidence.
This week, in a move that stunned several thousands of students and parents, the CBSE announced that it will conduct the Class 10 Mathematics and Class 12 Economics exams again. The re-test, CBSE said, was being done to “uphold the sanctity of the board examination and in the interest of fairness to students”, and “taking cognizance of certain happenings in the conduct of examinations”.
Outlining the timeline of how the Board first discovered that the Class X Mathematics paper was leaked, Swarup said CBSE chairperson Anita Karwal received an email purportedly carrying contents of the question paper at 1.29 am on March 28.
The confirmation, however, only came after the students had started writing the paper. “Is it possible that when an examination is going on, you suddenly ask everyone to stop the examination? Hence, the examination could not have been practically stopped at that point in time,” said Swarup.
