Protesting students demand re-examination for all papers

Just a day after the CBSE announced that it will be conducting re-examinations for the Class 10 Maths and the Class 12 Economics paper, students in scores have gathered at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar in protest. The students are demanding that the CBSE must hold re-examination for all the papers, and not just the two it announced yesterday. Students have alleged that many other papers were also leaked besides Maths and Economics.

Board exams for both the standards this year have been overshadowed by a number of news regarding paper leaks and students and parents have been complaining since. “2-3 papers had been leaked on WhatsApp 30 minutes before the exams”, accepted Union Minister Prakash Javadekar yesterday.

The CBSE board has informed the police that it has received a fax regarding the paper leak on March 23 which named a west Delhi coaching centre’s head to be the man responsible for the leak. A special investigation team is looking into the case. The Delhi Police, after questioning 25 people, most of them which were students, is hoping to trace the initial source. Due to WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption, the Police is facing trouble tracking the source of the WhatsApp message (a handwritten question paper) which was being circulated.

Opposition leaders have also expressed their disappointment as well as took this as an opportunity to attack the government. A tweet from Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi which was aimed at PM Modi read “How many leaks? Data leak! Aadhar leak! SSC Exam leak! Election date leak! CBSE papers leak! There is a leak in everything, the ‘chowkidar’ is weak”.

“I feel really sorry and sad for the students who have to give their exams again for no fault of theirs. Responsibility should be fixed n strict action should be taken against those responsible” tweeted Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi Chief Minister.

The board had initially denied any leaks alleged by the students. The economics paper, however, was circulated on a number of social media platforms hours before the exam on Monday. The investigation agency has said that they have not yet questioned any officials from the board and are mainly focused on tracing the source of the WhatsApp message.