Device to track Madhyamik papers

TT, Calcutta: The Madhyamik board has devised a new mechanism to help authorities track question papers from the time they reach the exam venues till they are given out to examinees.

This year Madhyamik will begin on March 12.

The board will get an alert as soon as somebody opens a sealed packet inside the venue. It will be able to monitor if a person tries to photograph the question paper before distributing it, a board official said.

"Each of the packets will have certain specially designed features that will enable the board to track them from the time police hands them over to officials at exam venues till they are distributed to examinees," Kalyanmoy Ganguly, administrator, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education said, on Tuesday.

"For every packet a particular board member will be authorised to carry it from the sorting point at the venue to the exam hall and open the seal. The arrangement in the system is such that the board will get an alert immediately if there is any foul play between the sorting point and the hall."

He, however, refused to divulge details of the system that has been used in the device for security reasons.

The board allots a particular number of question papers for every venue. The numbers are exactly the same as the number of examinees appearing in that centre. The question papers reach the venue a few hours before the start of an exam. They are packed in sealed envelopes at the sorting centre before being taken to the halls.

Say there are 50 candidates taking the test in one of the halls. The packet meant for that hall will have exactly the same number of papers in it.

The move aims to minimise chances of paper leaks by circulating photographs of question papers taken on mobile phones, Ganguly said.

The board was caught in a controversy last year when a part of the physical science paper was circulated on WhatsApp while the exam was on.

An investigation had revealed a teacher took a picture of the paper on his phone and circulated it to others. "The new system will stop such malpractice," a board official said.