SHILLONG: Taking serious note of the leakage of Class IX examination papers in Khasi and Jaintia Hills, the Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBOSE) on Thursday filed an FIR and asked police to begin the investigation from Thursday itself while at the same time rescheduling the Science & Technology examination from November 30 to December 4.
The MBOSE has also warned heads of institutions that they would be solely responsible for the safe keeping of the question papers in strict confidentiality as per notifications and guidelines issued by the Board and will be liable to stern disciplinary action as well as legal action as deemed fit and proper if any shortages, non availability and leakage of question papers, anomalies and discrepancies on the part of the heads of institutions is reported.
The Board has further constituted an internal inquiry into the matter with a two member committee deputed to investigating the matter.
Speaking to media persons here on Thursday, MBOSE Deputy Director M. Marbaniang said information about the leaking of question paper was first given to the Board by the Principal of St. Dominic School, School, after they caught one of their students with a handwritten question paper.
The student revealed that he had obtained the question paper from a student of KJP School. “That student told us that she had got the paper from a student of Christian Academy and so on and so forth,” he said, explaining the trail of leakage.
On the other hand, MBOSE Executive Chairman E.P. Kharbhih said leakage of question papers was also reported in Jaintia Hills and two separate FIRs were in Jowai and Khliehriat.
When asked what action can be taken against the head of the institutions who are involved in leakage of question papers, Kharbhih said MBOSE will blacklist such institutions and future examinations there will be held only with proper supervision.
Kharbhih also admitted that it was time for MBOSE to come up with a new strategy to hold the Class IX examination. The Board is mulling the possibility of keeping the question papers in the safe custody of either banks or police stations.
The executive chairman also slammed the erring schools, saying that they were yet to understand the concept of confidentiality of question papers. He also blamed the schools and their heads for blatant violation of the MBOSE directives with regards to question papers.
“Head of institutions are not meeting our expectations,” Kharbhih said.
He further informed that out of the 1510 secondary schools in Meghalaya, 517 are affiliated schools which are recognized as deposit centres for question papers. He added that there are 44 deposit centres in East Khasi Hills including 20 in Shillong.
Meanwhile, the Board with the approval of the State government has rescheduled the Science & Technology examination from November 30 to December 4 and has instructed all the coordinating officers concerned to collect the new set of Science & Technology question papers from the MBOSE offices in Tura and Shillong on December 3 and to distribute to the schools concerned under their deposit centre two hours before the commencement of examination on December 4.
