Pallavi Smart pallavi. smart@ mid- day. com WITH board exams set to begin next week, authorities have introduced some new initiatives to tackle paper leak that is said to have become rampant over the past few years.
The runner who delivers the question sheets will be accompanied by a police officer and have the additional task of tracking the movement of the papers at examination centres.
The runner will stay at the centre until the end of exam to ensure the bundles of the question papers are opened in classrooms only.
In the past, the seals of the bundles were opened in the office of centreu2019s head. From now on, each bundle will have 25 sheets and teachers will have to distribute the papers after taking studentsu2019 signature.
Sandeep Sangave, who recently took charge as the secretary of the Mumbai division of Maharashtra State Board, said, u201c Combating paper leak is one of the major challenges for the Mumbai division. Starting this year, the runners wonu2019t be allowed to leave the exam centres after delivering question papers, which used to happen in the past.
Their signature will be mandatory now, so that we are assured that the question papers were not opened before reaching the exam hall.u201d Sangave said that in past cases of paper leaks, it was observed that the question papers bundles were opened before it reached the classroom. u201c Now we have a person to hold accountable in case thereu2019s a leak, which, we feel, will act as deterrence.u201d Another important practice set to start this year is collection of data in digital format u2014 the number of students registered at a centre, how many of them appeared for the exam and how many last- minute registrations were recorded, and information about cheating. The data will also include the details of visits by flying and sitting squads, and in and out timings of the runner along with his name.
This will ensure there are no mismatches when compared to the details registered with the board, if there is a need for a probe, said the officials.
A total of 3,39,014 candidates are registered to appear for the HSC exam that starts on February 18.
Runner to track paper movement at exam centres With board exams starting Feb 18, the authorities introduce new initiatives to tackle question sheet leak Combating leaks 3,39,014 No. of candidates who have registered to appear for the HSC exam that starts on February 18 representati on pic
