Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Question paper leakage – whose fault?' that was published in Newsband

Question paper leakage – whose fault?

Paper leaks exposes the loopholes in the board exam system. Lakhs of students appear for the ‘board’ exams. The news about leakage of the Class X Mathematics paper and the Class XII Economics paper is shocking. It is good that no time was lost in tracking down the ringleaders. Unfortunately, the CBSE prepared just a single set of question papers, against the usual practice of keeping two or three sets ready.

The government should learn from the manner in which global tests such as GMAT, GRE and SAT are conducted without any leaks whatsoever. But the best systems can fail, if the incentives to cheat are strong.

The school-leaving exam should be merely treated as a qualifying criterion for college admission, with a national level entrance exam being conducted for various courses as in the case of admission to medicine and engineering. The board exam should cease to be one that eliminates students. Whether the job market still prefers degrees from brick and mortar institutes of whatever quality is a moot issue.

The budgetary outlay on education must be doubled from present levels of 3.5 per cent of GDP so that both brick and mortar institutions as well as digital instruction get a boost. We need better educators. Also Education has failed to create value for skilled physical work.

The problem of paper leaks is high when one decisive exam pattern is followed. A credible and superior alternative is to hold continuous evaluation (CCE) with three exams in a year having weightage 30:30:40. But unlike earlier practiced in Class X, all three exams must be conducted by CBSE and not by respective schools. Apart from leakage this pattern would help systematic studies and minimize any one time blips in performance. By next year CBSE could also try to stabilize the system of encrypted question paper distribution.

Question paper leakage sparked reactions from politicians and students. Students took to the streets to protest the decision and the Congress demanded that Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar and the board chairperson be sacked. Congress president Rahul Gandhi targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Arvind Kejriwal expressed his sorrow and sadness for the students who have to give their exams again for no fault of theirs. Responsibility should be fixed and strict action should be taken against those responsible, he said.

This leakage issue has exposed the capture of highest academic institutions by the ‘Exam Mafia’. HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said the culprits will not go scot-free.

Ultimately the question is why should the majority honest students suffer just because a handful of students got the paper leaked before the examination?