Kolkata: Five students were caught while trying to enter the examination hall carrying mobile phones on the first day of the higher secondary examinations Tuesday, an official of the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education said. The Council had warned students that their registration number could be cancelled if they carry mobile phones in examination halls. While four of the students are from Malda, another one is from Howrah district, the official said adding while the five will not be allowed to sit for any other papers, steps were also being taken to cancel their registration.
Three of the candidates are girls all sitting from a particular school in Malda, while the fourth one was from a boy’s school in the same district. The fifth candidate was from a boys’ school of Howrah. Examinations of first language papers, including those of Bengali, Hindi, English, Nepali, Urdu were held on the first day of the Higher Secondary examination (class 12 board exams) which was held peacefully across the state amidst strict measures by the Council.
The official said of the total centres, 500 were put under stricter surveillance to prevent any malpractices. Council President Mohua Das in a statement expressed satisfaction over smooth progress of the examinations on the first day. A total of 8,16,243 students appeared for the Higher Secondary examinations this year.
After question papers of class 10 state board examination were “leaked” on social media, the Council had warned students that their registration number could be cancelled if they carry mobile phones in examination halls. Das had said the venue supervisor and the special council nominee will carry mobile detectors at the entrance to check if anyone was entering the examination hall with mobiles. In addition, there will be a special invigilator who will check if any candidate was carrying mobile inside the hall.
There were reports that images of question papers were circulated on a social media platform within 30 minutes of start of examinations on all seven days of the just concluded class 10 state board examinations (Madhyamik). Images of six of the seven question papers tallied with the original. Madhyamik examinees had also been barred from carrying mobile phones in the examination hall.