KOLKATA: Purported images of the Bengali question paper started making rounds on WhatsApp soon after the first language examination of the class 10 state boards began on Tuesday, even as the authorities claimed there was no report of any leak.
The purported images of two pages, which went viral shortly after the exams began in 2,839 centres across the state at 12 pm, matched with the original question paper, the headmaster of a state-run school in the city told PTI.
"It appears that some mischief-makers went inside the exam centre with mobile phones and stealthily clicked two pages in two parts just after the exam began. But this is not a question paper leak as the exams had already begun," the senior teacher, who is also involved in conducting the Madhyamik exams, said.
A miffed West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) president Kalyanmoy Ganguly told PTI, "We don't have any such update. This is fake news. The exams were conducted smoothly in all the centres on the first day."
He appealed to the media and others to share the viral images with the board "for the sake of conducting the exams in a fair manner and tracking down the source".
WBBSE sources ruled out any possibility of cancelling the exam.
A guardian at the Bethune Collegiate School here, not wanting to be named, said after her daughter came out of the exam centre, she tallied the original question paper with the viral images that were forwarded to her by a friend in north Bengal and two pages - one each in two parts - matched.
"The board had promised full-proof measures. But how can still parts of the question paper be clicked before end of exams?" she asked.
To prevent any malpractices during the exams, the board had recommended suspension of internet services in areas around several examination centres spread across 42 blocks of the state.
Last year, purported images of Bengali, English, History, Geography and Mathematics question papers were shared on social media during the exams but both the board and education minister Partha Chatterjee rubbished those, saying there was no leak.
An estimated 10,15,888 candidates are appearing for the Madhyamik examinations this year and of them, 5,76,009 are girls.
While question papers were despatched to examination centres by 10.39 am, the packets were opened at 11.40 am and were distributed among students at 11.50 am.