Panel to probe CBSE question leaks

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has constituted a high-power committee to examine the system of conducting Class 10 and Class 12 examinations to prevent question paper leaks.

The committee, formed in the wake of leaks in CBSE 10th and 12th board question papers, will submit its report by May 31.

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Retired secretary (higher education) Vinay Sheel Oberoi will be the chairperson of this seven-member committee that will “revisit all aspects related to the security checks built into the system for ensuring that the question papers reach the examinees without tampering.”

The panel will also examine all areas of potential weakness in the present system of transporting question papers from the printing presses to the examinees.

Securing the system

Its terms of reference also include suggestions on the possible ways in which the system can be made more secure with the use of technology and minimisation of human intervention.

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The MHRD and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had to battle a major crisis last week with reports of question paper leaks. The CBSE announced cancellation of the Class 10 mathematics examination soon after the exam was held, as the leaked paper doing the rounds reportedly matched the actual question paper.

This came days after complaints that the Class 12 economics paper had also been leaked. While the CBSE had initially denied leakage of the economics question paper, it cancelled it alongside the maths paper, thus admitting the leak.

However, the CBSE and MHRD said that they had verified complaints about other question papers being leaked and found that the circulating papers did not match the actual papers.

After a preliminary enquiry, the MHRD has announced that there will be no Class 12 maths re-examination anywhere, but the Class 12 economics exam will be held again across India on April 25.

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The other members of the high-power panel include retired CBSE controller of examinations Pavnesh Kumar and India representative on the executive board of the UNESCO and former NCERT chairman J.S. Rajput. The CBSE question papers are prepared and distributed through an elaborate system involving setting of question papers by experts, moderation to calibrate difficulty levels and ensure syllabus compliance, translation in Hindi, printing by confidential printers, storage in bank vaults and, finally, distribution to exam centres.

Former and present CBSE officials say they have never heard of past leaks of Classes 10 and 12 question papers.