CBSE paper leak: All you need to know

Following the arrests, the CBSE suspended one of its officers, K S Rana for lack of supervision of an examination centre in Delhi from where Economics paper was allegedly leaked.

Three arrested in New Delhi. PTI

“On the direction of the HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar to take swift action against culprits, the Board has suspended KS Rana, the official found lax in supervising examination centre (0859) with immediate effect. A formal inquiry has been instituted,” school education secretary Anil Swarup tweeted on Sunday night.

Read | CBSE paper leak: Parents of leak accused say, ‘Tauqeer being made scapegoat’

Tauqeer, a Mathematics tutor who circulated leaked question papers on the day of the examination charged around Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 from the students. “During investigations, we questioned a Class 12 student from Bawana, who said he got the question paper from Tauqeer. We picked up Tauqeer on Friday night who revealed the names of both the teachers during questioning,” said JCP Alok Kumar. Rishab and Rohit are both teachers of a private school in Mungeshpur village near Auchandi on the Delhi-Haryana border, police said.

Tauqeer’s mother and sisters at her residence in Delhi, Tauqeer is one of the accused of CBSE paper leak. (Express Photo by Gajendra Yadav)

CBSE Maths Paper leak: 12 arrested from Jharkhand

In connection with the paper leak of CBSE Maths, at least twelve persons, including students and coordinators of a coaching institute were arrested on Saturday, March 31. The arrested persons include a maths teacher of the school, Harmesh, and a former ABVP office-bearer.

Read | CBSE: Class X Maths leak spreads to Jharkhand, 12 arrested

According to police, the investigations revealed that two minor students hailing from Gaya and Chhapra had received the maths paper on their WhatsApp chat on March 27 night, a day before the examination. Satish Pandey and his associate Pankaj Singh, who run the Study Vision Coaching Centre in Chatra received the message. The team who is conducting the probe believed that a Class 11 student also played an important role in the leak.

Bharat Bandh: CBSE postpones Class 10, 12 exams in Punjab

In the wake of Dalit organisations’ call for a nationwide strike (Bharath bandh) in protest against the alleged dilution of SCST Atrocities Act, the CBSE has postponed all Class 10 and 12 exams scheduled for Monday in Punjab. However, the exams will be held as scheduled in Chandigarh and in the rest of the country.

Delhi police take google’s help to identify whistleblower

Google has replied to the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police on the latter’s query regarding the email address which had been used to send a mail to the CBSE chairperson about the Class 10 Maths paper leak, an official close to the investigation revealed. The sender of the email has been identified as well, RP Upadhyay, Special Commissioner of Police (crime), told news agency PTI. A student of Class 10 had received the maths question paper on messaging app WhatsApp. He then sent the mail to the CBSE chairperson from his father’s email address.

Read | CBSE papers leak: Google gives Delhi police identity of whistleblower

At the behest of the police, the CBSE had shared a list of paper leak complaints it had received through emails and letters. The police are inspecting this data to find out whether they were acts of mischief or were true.

Revised dates for examinations: Class 12 Economics on April 25

The re-exam for the Class 12 Economics paper will be held on April 25. The board will announce the dates on the re-exam for the Class 10 Maths paper later, but will be held only in the states of Delhi and Haryana, Union Education Secretary Anil Swarup said. He also clarified that there will be no re-examination for non-resident Indians or NRI students.

“Regarding Class 10th re-examination — as leak was restricted to only Delhi and Haryana, if it at all a re-exam will happen, it will happen only in Delhi and Haryana and a decision will be taken on this in the next 15 days. If at all a re-exam is done, it will be held in July,” Mr Swarup said.

“In favour of children”: CBSE board chief on re-examination

CBSE chief Anita Karwal said that the decision to hold a fresh examination was taken “in favour of children”. “We are working for the children. We will also announce the dates very soon. Nobody needs to worry. We have taken a decision in favour of the children,” Ms Karwal said.

‘Grave injustice’: Protesting students over re-examination

Angered and frustrated over Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE’s) decision for a re-examination, students had protested in different parts of the country including the board’s headquarter in the capital. Angry students called it a “grave injustice.”

“I have law entrance scheduled, now should I prepare for it or study for my economics paper? With no fault of ours, we are being put through this. It is very unfair,” said Nitin Singh, a student at a private school in Green Park

Students protesting against the CBSE at Ferozepur Road in Ludhiana on March 29,2018. express Photo by Gurmeet Singh

Another student Sameer Sachdeva said, “CBSE is no less than the state boards — which face criticism over instances of mass cheating. It is on the same path with these leaks. Why could the ‘world’s largest board’ not make sure that such leaks don’t happen.”

‘Fake news’ of Class 12 Hindi paper leak

Following an alleged report of Class 12 Hindi paper leak on Saturday, CBSE chairperson Anita Karwal rubbished the rumours terming it as mischief. “This is definitely a mischief. Group of students protesting outside CBSE claim to have it, they are circulating it too,” Karwal said.

Read | Hindi paper not leaked, definitely a mischief, clarifies CBSE

CBSE Students showing Hindi leaked paper received on their WhatsApp while protesting against paper leak issue outside CBSE office in New Delhi on Saturday. Express Photo by Praveen Khanna.

“…a fake question paper of class 12 – Hindi (elective) (enclosed) is being circulated on social media i.e. WhatsApp, YouTube etc.,” the CBSE said in a release. “Hence, it is requested not to circulate the news about these fake papers, so that the students and other stakeholders are not misled,” the release said. The Hindi exam is scheduled to happen today, April 2.

How politicians reacted?

PM Narendra Modi demands strict action

In a telephonic conversation with Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, PM Narendra Modi expressed his displeasure and demanded strict action against the culprits.

‘Unfortunate’: Prakash Javadekar

Terming the paper leak incidents as unfortunate, Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said that “nobody has the right to play with the lives of children.” He also announced that the government will now work on a robust system to make paper leaks impossible in the future.

Now, Exam Warriors 2: Rahul Gandhi mocks Modi

Launching a scathing attack on the Modi-led government over the paper leaks issue, Congress President Rahul Gandhi mocked the prime minister saying that Modi will soon release “Exam Warriors 2” to teach students and parents stress relief after their lives have been “destroyed” due to paper leaks.

“PM wrote Exam Warriors, a book to teach students stress relief during exams. Next up: Exam Warriors 2, a book to teach students and parents stress relief, once their lives are destroyed due to leaked exam papers,” Gandhi tweeted.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal demands strict action

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal demanded a strict action against the perpetrators involved in the alleged leak of CBSE examination papers. “I really feel sorry and sad for the students who have to give their exams again for no fault of theirs. Responsibility should be fixed and strict action should be taken against those responsible,” Kejriwal tweeted.

Government is incapable of securing exam papers: MNS chief Raj Thackeray

MNS Chief Raj Thackeray criticised the government saying, due to government’s incapability the students have to bear the burden and suffer the ordeal of a re-exam.

“Why should they go through this? I appeal to all parents that under no circumstance should they let their children appear for a re-exam. If you bend now, in future, the government will make you bend further,” the MNS chief said. “This is a case of complete oversight on the part of the government. Instead of owning up, they are burdening the students with re-exams,” he added.