Lok Sabha Question No. 866 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-23
Subject: Leakage of Board Papers
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: VASANTHI M., RAJEEV SHANKARRAO SATAV, SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE, VINOD KUMAR BOIANAPALLI, RAMACHANDRAN MULLAPPALLY, HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT, T.G. VENKATESH BABU, DHANANJAY BHIMRAO MAHADIK, P.R. SUNDARAM, JAYAKUMAR JAYAVARDHAN, VIJAYSINH MOHITE PATIL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 866 TO BE ANSWERED ON 23 rd  July, 2018

## Leakage of Board Papers

## 866. SHRIMATI VASANTHI M.:

SHRI SATAV RAJEEV:

SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:

SHRI B. VINOD KUMAR:

SHRI MULLAPPALLY RAMACHANDRAN:

DR. HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT:

SHRI VENKATESH BABU T.G.:

SHRI  DHANANJAY MAHADIK:

SHRI P.R. SUNDARAM:

DR. J. JAYAVARDHAN:

SHRI MOHITE PATIL VIJAYSINH SHANKARRAO:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of leak of question papers of Class X and XII board  which  were  recently  held  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the subject in which the re-examination was held;
- (b) whether the Government has conducted any inquiry in the matter and if so, the details and the outcome thereof;
- (c) whether Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) has formulated any exam reforms to avoid leak of question paper and if so, the details thereof along with the other steps taken by the Government for smooth and leak proof conduct of board examination from the coming year;
- (d) whether the Government has constituted any panel to review all aspects related to security checks for conducting transportation of question papers to examination halls and if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Government is aware of reported errors in valuation of CBSE papers and  if  so,  whether  the  Government  has  sought  any  report  from  CBSE  in  the matter; and
- (f) if so, the details thereof along with action taken thereon?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)

(a) : The  Central  Board  of  Secondary  Education  (CBSE)  has  informed  that  the leakage of only two papers, i.e., Economics of Class XII and Mathematics of Class X could be confirmed. Re-examination of Economics for Class XII was held on 25 th April, 2018.    It  was,  however,  decided  not  to  hold  a  re-test  for  the  Class  X  Mathematics keeping  in  mind  the  paramount  interest  of  students  as  the  Class  X  examination  is essentially a gateway for class XI, it thus, remains largely an internal segment of school education system.

- (b): CBSE through Regional Director, Delhi Region lodged six complaints with Delhi Police to investigate the matter and find out the culprits who compromised the sanctity of  examinations  and  the  credibility  of  the  Board.  The  Delhi  Police  formed  a  Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the matter.  The Delhi Police has informed the Board that a Centre Superintendent of an exam centre in Una, Himachal Pradesh, his two accomplices  as well as the Bank Officer of the Custodian Bank were arrested for leaking the class X Maths and class XII Economics paper. Similarly, the Principal and two teachers of Mother Khazani Convent School in Delhi along with the owner of Easy coaching Institute were arrested in Delhi for leaking the class X Maths paper. The CBSE has  disaffiliated  the  schools  concerned  for  compromising  with  the  sanctity  of  the examination.
- (c): The  Board  is  employing  various  options  to  reduce  manual  intervention  in  the exam  system  to  make  it  more  robust.  As  a  backup  option,  it  has  decided  to  send encrypted  question  papers  to  the  examination  centres  with  option  of  multiple  sets. Detailed  standard  operating  procedure  has  been  developed  by  the  Board  and  Mock drills were conducted in the Centres. The same has been successfully implemented in the  ongoing  compartment  examinations  on  July,  2018  for  select  subjects.  Norms  for centre fixation and custodian identification have been made more stringent and every centre has been assigned external observers to monitor the affairs of examination for all the days of examination.
- (d): The  Government  of  India  constituted  a  High-Powered  Committee  (HPC)  to examine the entire system of conducting Class X and Class XII examinations conducted by CBSE.  The Committee has recently submitted its report.
- (e)&(f):  As the Evaluation is a manual activity, at times, totaling and posting mistakes occur  in  the  process  of  marking  by  teachers.  In  order  to  address  any  discrepancy  in such cases, CBSE has a Three Tier Systems to address such mistakes, in this regard, a detailed notice was released by the Board on 31.05.2008.

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