Exam rig slur on headmaster.... Madhyamik papers opened in advance

Haridayal Roy

TT, Jalpaiguri: A headmaster of a government-aided school has been accused of helping some Madhyamik examinees of his institute by opening packets of question papers before time and engaging teachers to solve the questions so that the candidates can score high.

The allegations against Haridayal Roy of Subhas Nagar Mainaguri Higher Secondary School in Mainaguri, 20km from Jalpaiguri town, came to the fore on the last day of the Madhyamik exam on Tuesday. Roy was given the Shiksha Ratna award by the state last year.

On Wednesday, Roy's name cropped up after an audio clip, purportedly featuring a conversation between one of the teachers of the school and Biswanath Bhowmik, a sub-inspector of schools (secondary) of Mainaguri circle, went viral.

In the clip, the teacher was heard informing Bhowmik that the headmaster is opening the question paper packets every day and then handing it over to teachers of concerned subjects so that they would solve it.

"The answers were then told to the first boy of the current batch of Madhyamik over phone. It was done in a closed room. In fact, on the day of the geography exam, the concerned teacher did not turn up at the school. The question paper was sent to her home where it was solved," the teacher was heard saying over phone.

Roy, while speaking on the allegation that he had been opening the packets earlier - those are supposed to be opened 30 minutes ahead of the examination, that is, at 11.30am - had said that he has opened the packets for convenience in distribution.

He however, did not responded to phone calls on Wednesday and could not be found even in his residence.

Later, it was learnt that he has headed for Calcutta as he has been called at the WBBSE office.

Sources said students of around four schools appeared in Madhyamik exam from his school. On the other hand, students of his school appeared from two other schools in Mainaguri.

"It has been also learnt that a student who father is employed in the school, was provided with the answers ahead of the mathematics exam," said a source.

Most of the teachers at the school were aware of this practice and some of them had even protested to it.

"But the headmaster went on insisting that he is doing it for the interest of the school. In fact, some of the teachers who had opposed were even threatened. Situation went to such an extent that couple of days back, five teachers went to the district magistrate's office and filed a complaint," said a teacher.

A section of educationists said the desperation to prove the school's performance seems to have triggered the headmaster.