BENGALURU: A day before the SSLC preparatory exams for science and social science, their question papers were already circulated on YouTube, raising serious concerns about a possible leak from within the education department. The exams were scheduled for March 3 and 4, however the complete question papers were up on YouTube on March 2 and 3.
A senior education department official told TNIE that question papers are supposed to reach schools or exam centres only two hours before the exam. However, they are sent to distribution centres a day earlier, raising questions about how they leaked it online in advance.
The video, uploaded as ‘YouTube Shorts’ containing the preparatory question paper for the social science exam was uploaded on March 3, a day before the exam, and was shared 24,000 times and had nearly 10,000 views. The video was posted by a YouTube channel named ‘Hacker Ani’, which has 73 subscribers.
“The same channel had also uploaded a video of the science question paper on March 2, but the video was taken down after the issue was raised with Education Commissioner KV Trilok Chandra. However, the social science question paper video remains live,” said D Shashi Kumar, General Secretary of Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS).
After the incident, KAMS wrote to Police Commissioner B Dayananda, demanding action, following which the police department suggested SSLC to file a complaint, however the board is yet to act.
“Some people inside the education department, along with influential people from private coaching centres, might be involved in this leak. It is possible that those responsible for preparing the question papers have links to these coaching centres and may have leaked the papers for their own benefit.
The Karnataka Police should form a special investigation team to look into the matter and find out who is responsible — whether they are government education officials or people from coaching centres — and take strict legal action against them,” Kumar said and added that if such incidents keep happening, public trust in education system will be damaged.
“Parents and students will lose confidence in school exams, making them doubt the fairness of the education system. Moreover, such leaks reduce the seriousness of public exams. If students find it easy to get question papers in advance, they may not put in the effort to study,” he added.
A senior official told that an action will be taken after discussions with School Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa.