Class 12 paper leak: Panel after probe suggests re-examination; AHSEC to meet on March 29 to discuss further

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After initial reports of a possible question paper leak case of Class 12 science stream papers, the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) had formed a panel to probe the matter. Retired district and session court judge B C Das was appointed as the head of the committee and three faculty members of Cotton University was roped in as subject experts.

The committee submitted its report last night, (March 19, 2018) to AHSEC. In the report the committee mentioned that there are similarities between the Science Academy test papers and the actual examination question papers. The committee feels the similarities cannot be termed as “coincidences”. Das led panel sense ‘foul play’ and suggested immediate investigation through an investigative agency. The committee in its report advised AHSEC to conduct examination again, as they feel it is unfair for those who had not got a similar question papers in their test.

The AHSEC meanwhile has withdrawn its recognition from Goalpara based junior college Science Academy, and announced that the council will meet on March 29, 2018 to discuss the matter further and take a call on re-examination.

Barak Bulletin got in touch with a senior official in the council and he said the committee has done its job and now the council will take the necessary actions. “We have already withdrawn our recognition from Science Academy,” he terms that as the first step. “See the question papers did not get leaked, a leak is when the exact printed question-paper becomes available before the examination, this is a different case all-together. The question-papers of the Science Academy test papers are not exactly similar word to word, we will look into the matter and assure fair investigation,” said the official.

He thinks the paper did not get leaked after it was printed, “There are high level security measures that the council has in place, we have reverse checked all the measures and we could not notice any breach at any stage,” the official added.

Meanwhile student organisations and various other unions are demanding a CID probe in the matter and if CID is not enough even CBI should be involved is what the mass opinion is. Education Minister of the state Himanta Biswa Sarma on March 10, 2018 had said that the council must investigate the matter within a week, he had also asked the council to change Biology question-paper and for that if needed they can postpone the examination by a day or two. The Biology examination was scheduled on March 17, 2018 and has been postponed to March 24, 2018.

Sarma feels that the question-paper leak in AHSEC examinations are an easier way of getting student enrolled in government-run medical colleges. In Assam the top 10 rank holders in class 12 (AHSEC) get an automatic choice to enroll themselves in the Medical colleges and they need not appear for any medical entrance test. In last four years we have had several reports of an alleged question-paper leak during the AHSEC examinations.

It all started with a news report from a regional broadcast channel. The report brought up the abnormal similarity between Science Academy ‘Test’ papers and the actual question papers, after that several youth organisations, student unions and other autonomous bodies got involved in the matter and started demanding for a probe.

Who is involved in it, how is the Test-paper of the Science Academy so similar to the final examination papers, is it possible without helping hand of an internal resource, there are a lot that the investigative agencies need to figure out, will we have a re-examination, we might get to know about it on March 29, 2018. For now the class 12 students can cancel their holiday plans, and it’s better to keep studying…