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Maths leak scare sparks panic

By Rajesh Kumar, Section Education
Posted on Mon Mar 14, 2005 at 11:29:29 PM EST

KOLKATA: The maths paper "leak" happened miles away in Delhi but the ripples were felt in the city as well. This year, 5,000 students from the city are taking the CBSE XII exams -- and, almost 80 per cent of them took the maths exam on Monday morning.

A TV news saying the maths paper had "leaked" from a coaching centre in Delhi led to panic and speculation among examinees here that the paper may be cancelled. Principals of prominent schools said they were constantly in touch with the board officials in Delhi and Allahabad (which controls the eastern region) to find out if there was any truth in the story.

Birla High School principal Mukta Nain said: "I was shocked to see the news on TV. My school is the exam centre for 1,498 candidates from six schools. I was anxious to know if we should go ahead with the exams. But, the Allahabad office of the board categorically told us that we should go ahead with the exams."

She was told that the set of questions for this region was different from that in Delhi and so, even if the papers had leaked, it would not affect this region. "We stood outside the gate to alleviate the fears of parents and candidates. We also took a head count to check if any candidate was absent and found that everyone had turned up for the exam," Nain said. Though the exam went on inside the school, anxious parents tuned in to various radio channels to catch up with the latest news on the leakscare.

It was only well past noon that parents like P. Banerjee, an employee of L&T, heaved a sigh of relief when the radio news said the scare was a rumour as questions suggested by the coaching centre were different from that of the board's.

Principal of Mahadevi Birla Girls Rashi Narula, who is also the coordinator for CBSE in the city, said the examination progressed peacefully despite the leak rumour. Outside the school one found a sea of anxious parents. The school is the exam centre for KV Fort William, two KV schools of Salt Lake and Birla High School. "My son was most tensed about this exam and the news on the TV aggravated it. The media should think twice before creating such a hype," said Bijoy Das, whose son Subhro is a student of KV Fort William.

"I just hope that the exam stands and students don't have to go through the ordeal of taking another maths exam -- one that several students fear most," said Ruma Dutta, whose son Anirban is a student of Birla High School.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1051754.cms

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