Summary
The council on Monday evening further announced that all the centre heads/centre secretaries and venue supervisors have been told “to make necessary arrangements for CCTV surveillance at the entry gate of all examination venues and in the room of venue supervisors (confidential rooms) positively”
The state higher secondary council has decided to introduce QR codes on question papers for the upcoming school-leaving exams, a measure that had helped the Madhyamik board track down the students who took pictures of their question papers and circulated them on social media.
The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education has also announced that every question paper of the HS exams will bear a unique serial number as a “security measure” and the “examinees must legibly write” on their answer scripts the corresponding serial number from their question papers.
The HS exams start on February 16 and end on February 29.
The council said those in charge of the exam centres, centre secretaries, venue supervisors and invigilators “are instructed to inform all the examinees” about the instructions.
A notice signed by the council president, Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya, says: “This should be done without fail for every examination day.”
“At the time of verifying and signing the answer scripts of the examinees, all the invigilators must also ensure that the candidates have noted down the serial number of the allotted question number on the answer scripts positively. Then only, the invigilator will put his/her signature on the answer script.”
The council on Monday evening further announced that all the centre heads/centre secretaries and venue supervisors have been told “to make necessary arrangements for CCTV surveillance at the entry gate of all examination venues and in the room of venue supervisors (confidential rooms) positively”.
“Considering the recent abominable incident that occurred in relation to the leak of question papers of important examinations, the council considers that more strict surveillance is required in all the venues of HS examination, 2024,” the notice says.
The council has also said that “records of the CCTV footage should be preserved in the safe custody of Venue Supervisors till 28th March” and that they might be asked to produce them according to “demand/necessity within the above-mentioned period”.
Last year, purported images of two pages of the life science question paper of the HS exams surfaced on WhatsApp over two-and-a-half hours after the test started.
“This year, we have introduced QR codes in question papers. We have asked the HS candidates to write on the top sheet of the answer script the corresponding serial number from their question paper. This will help us keep track of candidates who have received the question paper,” council president Bhattacharyya said.
Around 8 lakh candidates will write the school-leaving exams.
How will a serial number on the question paper help in detecting the errant HS student in the event of circulation of images of the question paper?
“The secret code on the question paper will be unique for each candidate. The QR code on each question paper will correspond to the unique serial number. If images of a question paper are circulated on WhatsApp, we will be able to identify the errant student with the help of the QR code and the serial number,” said a source in the council.
Candidates will be checked with hand-held metal detectors for smartphones and other electronic devices at 163 “sensitive centres”, officials said.
At the 2,200-odd other centres, the council will have to trust candidates to follow the norms and invigilators to be vigilant.
At the centres that have not been declared “sensitive”, the teachers will frisk the candidates on a limited scale, the council said.
As many as 14 Madhyamik candidates this year have been barred from writing the Class X board exams any further after images of question papers that circulated on WhatsApp were traced to the codes on their papers.
Last updated on 06 Feb 2024
