Former CBSE Chairman Tells How the Board Exam Papers Might Have Leaked

New Delhi: Ashok Ganguly, former chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education, feels that the leak of class X Mathematics and XII Economics papers happened while it was being transferred to examination centres.

Speaking to News 18.com, Ganguly said that there are multiple levels of setting a paper to assure its safety. He presumed that the leak happened because of a lapse in paper transfer from the collection centre to the examination centre.

He said that there are multiple stages, which include, “paper setting”, this takes at least six months, and can be extended depending on the situation.

Multiple experts from all over the country assemble for paper setting, who are usually not known to each other.

In the next stage, the paper goes to “moderators,” he said. At this stage, according to the bylaws of the CBSE, the difficulty levels of the papers are tested. This ensures parity as the students come from all backgrounds. At this stage, the length, syllabus and difficulty levels are assessed and laid down standard are maintained.

From here, the paper goes to be translated into Hindi and then sent to for paper printing. This is followed by the set of papers being sent to the “storage point”, from where it is sent for “distribution”. The papers are then sent to the collection centre – a bank or someplace secure.

“In these multiple stages, a lot of security measures are taken into account. The leak of the Economics and Mathematics paper suggests that it was not leaked in the initial stages of the paper setting and publishing,” Ganguly said.

“That’s because had the paper been leaked due to gaps in the initial stages the paper would have been out much in advance of the day of the test, and not on the day of the exam on WhatsApp,” he added.

With the paper being leaked on the day of the examination itself the fault “must be lying between the collection centre and the examination centre”, Ganguly said.

He said, “This is the symptom of a society plagued with unhealthy competition. Some disgruntled elements have done this. But the sufferer are the students – who will have to again sit for the examinations again.”

This happened days after the alleged Accountancy paper leak on WhatsApp, which was denied by the CBSE.

In the denial, they said, “All the seals are intact at all the exam centres.”

The board had blamed that at local level some miscreants had tried to play mischief by circulating messages through WhatsApp. FIR was lodged by CBSE.

Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia has also asked for the matter being investigated.

A total of 16, 38, 428 candidates have registered for class X examination, being conducted at 4,453 centres across India and 78 centres abroad. Meanwhile, 11, 86, 306 candidates have registered for class XII examinations, being held at 4,138 centres in India and 71 centres abroad.