The Council for Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) was on Thursday forced to cancel the Plus Two physics examination following a question paper leak. The issue had echo in the Assembly prompting the Government to order a Crime Branch inquiry.
The paper was leaked a day before and was in hush-hush circulation. Even though the officials were tipped off about the leak prior to the commencement of the paper, the students did take the examination. But it was an exercise in futility as the exam was cancelled thereafter.
The leak was confirmed after some of the teachers told senior CHSE officials that the questions in circulation matched the actual question paper. CHSE secretary Tusharkanti Tripathy said that the announcement for the fresh physics examination would be taken at a high level meeting of the examination committee tomorrow. However, the rest of the examinations will be conducted as per schedule.
The question papers are generally dispatched for the examination centres around four to five days prior to the start of the examination. Few senior teachers who are given the responsibility to make the question paper do not know if their questions were selected for printing as the information is kept confidential.
Around 77,649 students appeared for the physics examination on the fourth day. Following the leak, squad teams from the council were sent to the examination centres across the State to check and safeguard the question papers for the next day. ‘’From now onwards, observers will monitor every examination and the squad teams will monitor the question papers as their first priority,’’ said CHSE chairman GS Ray. He suspected that the leakage might have taken place from the nodal centres.
Higher Education Minister Badri Narayan Patra has assured of a detailed probe and stringent action against the guilty.