Guwahati: The Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP government in Assam has landed in trouble after multiple paper leaks forced the Assam State School Examination Board (ASSEB) to cancel all examinations for Class-XI students, scheduled between Monday and March 29.
Unlike in most other states, Class-XI final exams in Assam are also conducted by the ASSEB. In most other states, promotion of students from Class-XI to Class-XII takes place through an internal examination conducted by the schools themselves.
The Higher Secondary First Year, or Class-XI examinations, started in Assam on March 6 and was to continue till March 29. On Sunday, state education minister Ranoj Pegu announced the cancellation all examinations from Monday onward. Students were supposed to sit for examinations in 36 subjects in the last six days.
While Pegu has stated that a new schedule will be announced on Monday, students’ organisations, such as the NSUI, SFI, SMSS and AASU, launched protests and demanded his resignation. They also demanded that ASSEB chief R C Jain be suspended.
On March 21, a mathematics paper was leaked and the exam was cancelled. A police complaint was also lodged. Pegu, in a post on ‘X’ stated that the mathematics paper had to be cancelled after 18 schools, including three government ones, broke open the security seal a day in advance.
The minister said that the Board has already cancelled the affiliation of 15 of these schools. A decision on the remaining three will be taken soon. Police complaints will also be lodged and these schools have been ordered, not to admit students to Class-XI for the 2025-26 batch.
According to Ranjan Kumar Das, controller of examinations (in-charge), ASSEB, no actual evidence has come in as yet that the mathematics paper was leaked by all 18 schools. However, 2-3 schools may have done so. The exams had to cancelled as a precautionary measure, to ensure a fair process of assessment, he said.
