Assam question paper leak: Edu minister holds schools responsible, defends state board

Assam Education Minister Ranoj Pegu, on March 25, told the Assembly that the leak of class 11 question papers did not happen at the level of the state board, but at the school level.

The minister said that policy decision will be needed to tackle the problem pertaining to the leak, which led to the cancellation of exams of all 36 subjects.

Pegu was speaking during a discussion on the cancellation of the class 11 examinations, which were scheduled to be held from March 24 to 29, following reports of paper leaks from different places.

Raising the matter during Zero Hour, Congress MLA Abdur Rashid Mandal said, "The Assam State School Education Board (ASSEB) was formed for conducting the examinations and it failed to do so in the very first exams after its formation."

He questioned the appointment of RC Jain as the board chief and demanded his immediate dismissal.

Citing instances of resignation of ministers taking moral responsibility for lapses, Mandal said Pegu should follow the precedence, stopping short of directly asking him to step down.

Pegu said the leak of question papers was traced to 15 schools -- 12 private and three provincialised.

The affiliation of all the 15 schools was immediately suspended and admissions in the new session were stopped, he said.

"The problem has been at the school level, and we have to address the problem where it occurred," he said, denying a lapse on the part of ASSEB.

Pegu said the general focus was on class 10 and 12 exams, and the ASSEB ensured these were conducted smoothly.

He said schools were entrusted with the class 11 question papers in advance, but at some places, the seals were opened ahead of schedule.

"A policy decision would be needed on whether to conduct the class 11 exams in private schools in the future," he said.

"The private schools also serve as centres for entrance tests of competitive exams. We have to look into it also," he added.

The minister said a meeting of the ASSEB took place on Monday and the new schedule for the class 11 papers will be announced after the panchayat poll dates are declared.