This year, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had been in the news for its mismanagement and rigorous question paper leaks which led to a retest for class 12th students. Amidst to all the dissatisfaction against the board, the examinations were conducted peacefully, and the results were not delayed. Facing flak over paper leaks, CBSE would test a system, double ‘encrypted’ in which question papers will be directly sent to the exam centres during the class 10 compartmental exams, and they are supposed to be printed in the schools by the examiners. A CBSE observer and password will be present at each centre during the compartmental exams for class 10 which are scheduled to be held from July 16 to July 25.

In order to curb the paper leak menace, CBSE will introduce this ‘double encrypted’ question papers and it will be done on a pilot basis. If the board receives success at this initial trial, then the officials will sit for a final discussion if it could be implemented in the upcoming exams on March 2019. The exam centres will get question papers and passwords just 30 minutes before the exam. “The centre superintendents will open the question papers with the unique passwords and print one copy and make photocopies to be distributed to the students,” a source close to CBSE has been quoted saying in a TOI report.

“The Board has made a proposal so as to minimise the human intervention in delivery of the question papers to the centres. This is one measure which the ministry also received as a recommendation from the seven-member high powered committee set up by the ministry in April. The ministry therefore approved the pilot run as it will help understand how this system would work and what kind of fine tuning and innovation would be needed for a larger exam. It will also help to understand the logistics that will be needed for such an operation,” a senior MHRD official was quoted in the same report.

Just after the question paper leaks, CBSE introduced the encrypted question papers which were printed in the schools during the regular exams. But reportedly, class 10 and class 12 exams were delayed by more than an hour as the officials faced technical errors during the process and around 11:30 am the students received the paper. Facing such glitches and confusions in the middle of the exams, this time the board decided to give the examiners half an hour for the pilot run. It will be conducted in all those centres which have students less than 1,000. In all, this time it will be tested among 4,000 students. However, class 12th compartmental exam has been kept out of this experiment.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 27, 2018 10:18 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).