Guwahati: Hours before they were to appear for their General Science exam on Monday, Class 10 students in Assam were taken aback by the state Board of Secondary Education’s decision to cancel the exam over media reports of an alleged question paper leak. Assam Director General of Police (DGP) GP Singh has announced that the matter will be investigated by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
The cancellation was announced by State Education Minister Ranoj Pegu took to twitter Sharing a copy of the notification issued by the Board of Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA) at around 11.48am.
General Science Examination of HSLC exam scheduled to be held on 13/03/2023 has been canceled by SEBA in view of media reports of question paper leak. The next date will be announced in due course. pic.twitter.com/3fvU2CbSgr
— Ranoj Pegu (@ranojpeguassam) March 12, 2023
The notification states that SEBA , The body which conducts the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) examination for class 10 students , News reports on Sunday evening revealed that the General Science question paper “is available in the hands of some candidates and is also being circulated on social media”.
The notification, signed by the Controller of Examinations, SEBA, NJ Sarmah, states that the board decided to cancel the exam as “such news may create confusion in the minds of the candidates”.
in another doPegu told that the examination of General Science will now be held on March 30 from 9 am in all the examination centers of the state.
He later told reporters in Guwahati that SEBA had informed him about the report of suspected paper leak last evening.
“SEBA had to take this decision around midnight and has lodged a police complaint. The question papers were to be sent on Monday morning to the examination centers from the police stations where they are kept.
The canceled exams have left students and parents upset, with some even considering a shift from the state board to the Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE).
Meanwhile, student organisations, including the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), hit the streets in various parts of the state on Monday to protest the “disgusting and irresponsible” display by SEBA officials.
AASU general secretary Sankor Jyoti Baruah also blamed Pegu, referring to him as the “puppet education minister of Assam”.
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Guwahati-based lawyer Najeeb Baksh, whose daughter is appearing for her Class 10 board exams from a private school under SEBA, said it was “not the first time that such irregularities have been reported from SEBA”.
“Many of us parents have also suffered in our time. They (SEBA) never gave us enough marks, and the preparation we had to do for the matriculation course was enormous. I want my daughter to join CBSE board where she can score high marks and the exams can also be conducted smoothly,” she told ThePrint.
Another parent from Guwahati, Pranjal Hazarika, said that he wanted his daughter to pursue her higher secondary education under the CBSE board as it would be beneficial when she would appear for national-level competitive examinations.
Hazarika said that the cancellation of the exam is a shock to the students who had worked hard for the exam.
“The state board does not have any strict rule against carrying mobile phones to the place where question papers are kept. It could also be one of their senior officers clicking a picture of the question paper and circulating it,” he said.
Noting that it would be difficult for her son – who studies in an Assamese medium school – to switch to another school under the CBSE board, Hazarika said with absolute certainty, “But my daughter will.”
Speaking to the media in Guwahati on Monday, AASU general secretary Baruah said, “Not just today, SEBA has done this time and again. They have only been entrusted with conducting an exam, which they are supposed to do without anomalies.” All senior officials of SEBA involved in conducting HSLC exam should be questioned.”
Baruah said that “the puppet education minister of Assam, who has done nothing for the students except ensuring their participation in the silver and golden jubilee celebrations, is also responsible for pushing the students into this situation”.
He alleged that the education department was working irresponsibly and without discipline.
The issue was also raised in the Legislative Assembly on Monday when Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia moved a adjournment motion to demand a discussion on the issue, which was rejected by Speaker Biswajit Daimary.
(Editing by Amritansh Arora)
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