Kolkata, Feb. 10 -- The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) has introduced a new security feature in this year's Madhyamik examination question papers to prevent leaks. Along with the existing QR code embedded with a unique serial number, the number is now printed vertically as a watermark on every page, making it nearly impossible to tamper with or hide.
The new measure was revealed on Monday, the first day of the exams, which were conducted smoothly barring a few incidents.
A total of 9,84,910 candidates appeared for the first language exam across 2,683 centres. Among them, 157 students from 116 schools received admit cards over the weekend after the board briefly reopened the enrolment portal following a court order. Additionally, 55 students sat for the exam from hospitals after falling ill during the test.
Despite strict warnings, three students had their exams cancelled for rule violations. A candidate at Alipurduar Newtown Girls' High School was caught with a mobile phone, while another at Bally Santiram Vidyalaya in Howrah was found with a smart watch. In a separate case at Garalgacha Balika Vidyalaya in Hooghly, an elder sister attempted to take the exam in place of her younger sibling. Last year, some images of leaked question papers on social media had their QR codes edited out. To counter this, the WBBSE has now introduced serial numbers as watermarks on every page. "This makes it extremely difficult to hide the number without obscuring the content," a board official said.
Additionally, to prevent organised cheating, question sequences have been altered across four regions, Kolkata, Burdwan, Midnapore and North Bengal. A question appearing first in Kolkata may be placed fourth in Burdwan.
At Maju Ramnarayan Basu High School in Howrah, a student from Islampur Adarsha Madhyamik Vidyalaya attempted to take the exam using a fake admit card. Also, the father of a student came to a school in Putiary in South Kolkata's Kudghat area with a fake admit card.
Meanwhile, a minor issue arose in a few schools regarding question paper distribution. At some centres, packets containing 10 question papers initially appeared to have only five. Later, it was discovered that one question paper was hidden within another.
"We received our question papers late as some were hidden between others. However, no extra time was given," said Rayhan Gunin, a student of Bidhannagar Municipal School, who was writing his exam at Bidhannagar Government High School. The issue was flagged to the board at 10:35 am, after which all centres were informed.
In addition, on Monday morning, images of question papers surfaced on social media, triggering claims of a leak. However, an investigation revealed that these were either test papers or last year's questions. The board has filed a complaint at Bidhannagar East Police Station.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.