The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has decided to cancel the social science exam of Class 10, held in session one, following a paper leak. The board has now decided to re-conduct the exam on March 8 for students who appeared in the board examination on February 19. The decision was taken after board officials were informed about a photo of social science question paper going viral on WhatsApp.
The Board said that it launched a preliminary investigation as soon as the matter was brought to its notice. The Board officials found that the social science question paper of the first shift was leaked by a contractual staff through WhatsApp. According to a report in The Indian Express, Vikas Kumar – a contractual worker at the SBI Jhajha branch – had clicked a photo of the question paper before the commencement of the examination.
He sent the image via WhatsApp to one of his relatives who is appearing for the matric exam. Officials said that the question paper was kept with the Jhajha branch of the SBI for safekeeping. They said that it is yet to be ascertained that how many students had access to the image of the question paper that was circulated on the instant messaging app. Around 8,46,504 students had appeared in the social science examination held in the first shift.
They said that Kumar has been arrested along with two other staff involved in the incident. “The police has filed an FIR and further investigation in the matter is going on,” officials said.
According to the Board, police found that question paper number “111-0470581” was circulated on WhatsApp.
There are around 16.8 lakh students who have registered for the Bihar Board Class 10 examinations that began on February 17 at different centres across 38 districts in the state. According to the data shared by the Board, out of 16.8 lakh students, 8,46,663 are boys and 8,37,803 are girls. The last exam of Class 10 will be conducted on February 24.
