Mita Mukherjee
Purported image of a page of Bengali first language paper of state Class X state board examinations of West Bengal (Madhyamik) was circulated in social media and went viral nearly 30 minutes after the exam started on Friday. Today was the first day of the exam.
The image of the paper was uploaded on WhatsApp from two exam centres in Malda district in North Bengal, officials in the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, said.
With the help of a hidden code, the board identified two candidates who had clicked the pictures of the question paper and circulated it and cancelled their entire examination.
” We had asked students and guardians several times not to enter exam centres with mobile phones. They were also cautioned about the consequences if they were caught sending images of question paper on social media. The whole examination of two students from two different centres in Malda district was cancelled for clicking the picture of a page of today’s paper and circulating it in WhatsApp creating panic among students and guardians,” Ramanuj Ganguly the board president told EducationWorld.
He, however.said this cannot be termed as question paper leak. The board seized two mobile phones from a centre in Jhargram and another from Purulia district. “We are trying our best to stop bad practices in the examination system,” Ganguly said.
The board had issued a notice asking invigilators at all Madhyamik centers to inform the candidates before the start of each day’s exam that “on every page of the question paper the serial number code is hidden, and therefore if anyone clicks a picture of the question paper, it will be easily detected who has done so.”
The notice had further said that the full examination of (Madhyamik Pariksha 2024) of the said candidate will be cancelled. The board had alerted all candidates that since it will be possible to find out who has clicked the picture of the question paper, it will not be possible for such examinees to hide their own identity.
Each candidate has a specific serial code against his or her question paper, a board official said. The board several years ago had barred studentsfrom entering the examination centers with mobile phones. Over last several years, there were reports from various parts of the state of question paper circulating on WhatsApp within 10 to 15 minutes after the start of the day’s exam. The 2024 Madhyamik exam started today and continue till February 12. Around 9.23 lakh candidates are writing the test this year.
The board had also directed all centre secretaries to preserve CCTV footage of each day of Madhyamik till the publication of results for maintaining security, transparency and fairness of the examination process.
