CBSE: No better alternative than encrypted question paper at present

NEW DELHI: Stating that there is no better alternative at present than encrypted question paper for leak proof conduct of exam, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) said that in all likelihood it will start with a blended approach in the 2019 Board exam before scaling it up on Wednesday. As per the plans the Board is also going to help the centres have all the necessary logistics to implement the same.

CBSE is going to take a final decision based on the present pilot run during the ongoing compartmental exam where the encrypted question papers are being delivered via emails 30 minutes ahead of the exam. The pass words are sent separately to the centre superintendent and the question papers are printed and photocopied at the centres itself.

Speaking to the media, Anurag Tripathi, secretary, CBSE said that the Board in all likelihood adopt this system from 2019. "However, a final decision will be taken soon after we analysis the pilot run as well as the logistical demands. Another possibility we are looking at is to start at a lower scale of sending encrypted question papers where the number of students are low. It all depends now how prepared we are with the logistics."

According to CBSE, a centre with around 500 students will need to print 8000 pages of question papers in one subject. The logistics needed for that is printers, internet, photocopiers, uninterrupted power supply or power backup. There are 1200 Kendriya Vidyalayas and 600 Navodaya Vidyalayas, which according to Tripathi are complete with the infrastructure. CBSE needs around 4500 centres, but in this system the number of centres may decrease marginally.

"We will look for centres which have higher capacity and the necessary logistics first. This may bring down the number of centres, but we will ensure that students don't face any difficulty. The those centres which lack certain logistics, CBSE will help, including the remote centres. We may engage service providers for the logistics," said Tripathi.

On whether the logistics will be need major investment and whether the Board is prepared for that, the secretary said that it will be compensated by the cost required for delivering hard copies of question papers. "We will save on the cost of transportation, bank custodian charges, packing, printing which will easily compensate the cost of logistics necessary for the delivery of the encrypted question papers."