A day after the Plus-Two physics paper was cancelled following its question paper leak, the Council for Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) rescheduled the chemistry paper after rumours of similar leak did the rounds since Thursday.The date of chemistry paper test has now been shifted to March 30 (second sitting) while physics test will be held on March 25 (first sitting). The Government has ordered a Crime Branch inquiry into the question paper leak.
According to senior CHSE officials, the council did not want to take chances and postponed the chemistry examination. It was done as a precautionary measure as the CHSE did not want to put the students in trouble. “We do not want the students to travel for the examination and then be informed that the examination has been cancelled. We want to ensure that there is no question paper leak before any examination,” CHSE secretary Tusharkanti Tripathy said.
The council was also not ready to accept that the physics question paper was leaked. Tripathy said the leaked questions in circulation were not identical to the actual question paper. “The leaked questions might be considered similar in spirit, but they were different when it comes to its wording,” he said.
The council officials at all the examination centres have been notified about the rescheduling of the chemistry paper so that none of the centres opens the sealed question papers. The CHSE officials have assured that stringent verification of the sealed question paper packets will be done to ascertain if there has been any leak or not. The question papers for the Plus-Two examinations are sent in two phases. One lot is sent a few days before the examination and the rest are sent during or after the exam starts. The question papers for the examinations from March 12 were dispatched on Friday.
The examinations for science stream students were supposed to conclude on March 18, but it will now stretch till the month-end, which will be quite taxing for the students.
The students have come under pressure after cancellation of two papers one after another. A majority of science students, appearing for various entrance examinations, will be the affected lot.
However, the CHSE officials have assured that there will be no delay in the publication of results.