Cuttack/Bhubaneswar: The Odia question paper allegedly went viral on WhatsApp about 10 minutes after commencement of the annual High School Certificate examination on Friday, the first day of the exams.
Question papers were found floating on cellphones in Jeypore town of Koraput district, Nuapada district, Kamakhyanagar in Dhenkanal district and Kandhamal.
School and Mass Education Minister Badri Narayan Patra, however, ruled out leakage, calling it just a “rumour”.
“Question papers packets were kept under tight security at 304 nodal centres and taken to examination centres amid tight security by 8am today,” the minister said. “These were opened in the presence of senior government officials, centre superintendents and students. Hence there is no question of question papers being leaked.”
He further said that there was a ban on use of cellphone by staff other than centre superintendents at the examination centre premises and even the centre superintendents’ phones are switched off.
The minister, however, made it clear that he would order a probe into the incident if the circulated question paper is found similar to the original question paper.
Meanwhile, the students after appearing the Odia paper told the media in the afternoon that the question no- 33 to 40 in the original Set-A question was similar to the one gone viral.
Briefing the mediapersons in Cuttack, president of the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) Dr Jahan Ara Begum said the students need not panic on such incident as the question paper has been uploaded on the social media while the examination was underway. “Somebody has played mischief. Those who have uploaded the MIL (Odia) question paper on the social media have not targeted the students. Rather, their motive is to malign the Board and the government. We will certainly probe into the incident,” she added.
