Steps taken to stop question paper leaks as board exams near in TN

Chennai: With board exams especially for Class 12 will be held from Thursday after a gap of two years, the Tamil Nadu government has issued strict instructions to ensure that there should not be any question paper leak.

During recent revision tests for the board exam students in the State, question papers were leaked on social media and action was taken against the officials concerned.

The final exams for Class 12 students will be held from May 5 to May 28. Similarly, the Class 11 public examinations will take place from May 9 to May 31 and annual exams for Class 10 students will be held from May 6 to May 30.

A senior official from the School Education Department told DT Next on Monday that a review meeting involving exam invigilators and flying squad members was held to discuss incidents of question paper leaks and ways to prevent them during board exams for Class 10 to Class 12.

Stating that the review meeting was held in all the districts of the State led by Chief Education Officers (CEOs), he pointed out three types of question papers have been printed and kept ready for distribution. "Members were informed that strict action would be taken, including suspension against the persons, who indulge in exam irregularities," he added.

The official said that the authorities of the Directorate of Examination will decide a day before of examination which question papers need to be distributed. "The question papers were prepared based on the truncated syllabus, which was released by the School Education Department," he said.

"The 'route officers', who transport the question papers to the exam centres, have been instructed not to travel in public transport for distributing question papers," he said. He added that they will also ensure to get the report from in charge of the exam centre with regard to delivery time besides ensuring that the distribution to the students as per the schedule.

He said in addition, the 'route officers' will also collect the answer sheets from the exam centres, which were allocated to them, soon after the exam schedule.

"The review meeting was also decided to involve mostly government school teachers in exam-related works. Apart from ensuring to stop the question paper leak, the Directorate of Examinations will also adopt a fail-proof system of transparency in conducting of examinations, results publication and issue of certificates to the students.