Lakhs of students who came out to write their first paper of the Class XII examinations conducted by the Board of School Education of Haryana were stopped midway as the paper was cancelled after it was discovered that it had got leaked.
The English paper (second semester) had started at 2-30 p.m. in schools across the State and the answer sheets had been distributed to the students when most school principals and teachers got information from the Board to stop the paper. A teacher of a school in Sonepat said Board officials rang up saying the paper has been cancelled as it had got leaked in Bhiwani
After confirming with their respective district administration officials, most schools made the announcement and asked the students to leave the examination centre after submitting the answer sheets.
Police complaint
Principal Secretary (School Education) T.C. Gupta while talking to The Hindu said though there were three sets of papers for the English examination, the Board came to know that all three had got leaked. He said subsequently a complaint was lodged with the police which were investigating the matter and was learnt to have seized a vehicle in connection with the crime.
Meanwhile, the Education Department, he said, has decided that henceforth the question papers in the second shift would only be released around noon to leave little scope for any manipulation. “Earlier the practice was to send the papers for the second shift to the schools too in the morning.”
In a statement, the Haryana School Education Board later said it has postponed the English Paper (Core or Elective) as it had received secret information that the paper had got leaked in Bhiwani district before the examination.
A spokesperson said the Board administration took a quick decision and postponed the English paper throughout the State and initiated an in-depth inquiry so as to trace the source, place and persons involved in this regard. He said the new date and place for the English paper examination would be announced soon.
The development came on a day when Haryana Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma declared that the State was reaching out to a cross section of the society to curb the evil of cheating in examinations.
