RANCHI: The Jharkhand Academic Council authorities cancelled science exam held on Thursday and Hindi (A & B) papers conducted on Tuesday after a probe revealed that the two papers were leaked and surfaced on social media a day before.
The developments drew sharp reactions and outrage from students, teachers, parents as well as opposition parties.
The JAC also came under fire for not taking enough measures to prevent leaks, but board officials have assured that a thorough probe has been initiated to identify the culprits and take stringent action. The source of the leak is being traced to Koderma and Giridih districts, JAC sources said.
A total of 4.33 lakh students are appearing in the matriculation exam across 1,297 centres, initially scheduled to end on March 3.
Notably, the question paper for the science exam began circulating on social media since Wednesday morning.
After denying any leak and asking the students not to fall for any rumours, the JAC officially confirmed the leak on Thursday, hours after the commencement of the exam in the first half after the viral questions tallied with those of the actual exam. Later in the evening, the JAC also cancelled the Hindi exam which was held on Feb 18, the question paper of which had allegedly gone viral a day before the exam.
Senior officials of the JAC went into a tizzy as the exam began on Thursday morning. Chief secretary Alka Tiwary and education department officials, too, held a meeting with different district authorities over the issue.
JAC chairman Natwa Hansda, who was appointed just before the exam, said the council has initiated a probe into the incident and assured to take the stringent action possible and re-conduct the two cancelled papers, the dates of which will be notified soon.
Reacting to the alleged source of the leak, Hansda said, “The district administrations of Koderma and Giridih have been asked to explain the matter.”
Sources in Koderma told TOI that a person from a private school in Jamu under Markachcho police station limits first floated the question papers with answers on his WhatsApp group which has more than 1,000 members.
Meanwhile, state residents and opposition parties came down heavily on JAC for compromising the integrity of the examination. In the last year, several paper leak incidents rocked the state. At least three such incidents happened in 2024 in NEET UG and JSSC’s CGL exams.
Nishant Bharti, the owner of a coaching institute at Jaiprakash Nagar, said, “The question paper was leaked two days ago before the examination and everyone was aware of it on social media. Initially, the board didn’t probe and kept denying it. It was forced to take action today.”
In a statement, BJP state president Babulal Marandi demanded that education minister Ramdas Soren and the JAC chairman step down taking accountability for the lapse on moral grounds.
BJP’s MLA from Chandankyari Amar Kumar Bauri accused the govt of putting the students’ future in jeopardy. He said, “It is high time that the Hemant Soren govt gets serious about the future of students and youths. After a series of leaks in civil service exams and other competitive exams, this govt is now playing with the future of school students as the board exams’ integrity is under question.”
BJP’s ally, Ajsu-P also questioned the govt’s mechanism to prevent paper leaks and demanded the removal of the JAC chairman. Party leader Sanjay Mehta said, “We demand a high-level probe into the incident. The govt must implement a transparent examination system.”
The developments drew sharp reactions and outrage from students, teachers, parents as well as opposition parties.
The JAC also came under fire for not taking enough measures to prevent leaks, but board officials have assured that a thorough probe has been initiated to identify the culprits and take stringent action. The source of the leak is being traced to Koderma and Giridih districts, JAC sources said.
A total of 4.33 lakh students are appearing in the matriculation exam across 1,297 centres, initially scheduled to end on March 3.
Notably, the question paper for the science exam began circulating on social media since Wednesday morning.
After denying any leak and asking the students not to fall for any rumours, the JAC officially confirmed the leak on Thursday, hours after the commencement of the exam in the first half after the viral questions tallied with those of the actual exam. Later in the evening, the JAC also cancelled the Hindi exam which was held on Feb 18, the question paper of which had allegedly gone viral a day before the exam.
Senior officials of the JAC went into a tizzy as the exam began on Thursday morning. Chief secretary Alka Tiwary and education department officials, too, held a meeting with different district authorities over the issue.
JAC chairman Natwa Hansda, who was appointed just before the exam, said the council has initiated a probe into the incident and assured to take the stringent action possible and re-conduct the two cancelled papers, the dates of which will be notified soon.
Reacting to the alleged source of the leak, Hansda said, “The district administrations of Koderma and Giridih have been asked to explain the matter.”
Sources in Koderma told TOI that a person from a private school in Jamu under Markachcho police station limits first floated the question papers with answers on his WhatsApp group which has more than 1,000 members.
Meanwhile, state residents and opposition parties came down heavily on JAC for compromising the integrity of the examination. In the last year, several paper leak incidents rocked the state. At least three such incidents happened in 2024 in NEET UG and JSSC’s CGL exams.
Nishant Bharti, the owner of a coaching institute at Jaiprakash Nagar, said, “The question paper was leaked two days ago before the examination and everyone was aware of it on social media. Initially, the board didn’t probe and kept denying it. It was forced to take action today.”
In a statement, BJP state president Babulal Marandi demanded that education minister Ramdas Soren and the JAC chairman step down taking accountability for the lapse on moral grounds.
BJP’s MLA from Chandankyari Amar Kumar Bauri accused the govt of putting the students’ future in jeopardy. He said, “It is high time that the Hemant Soren govt gets serious about the future of students and youths. After a series of leaks in civil service exams and other competitive exams, this govt is now playing with the future of school students as the board exams’ integrity is under question.”
BJP’s ally, Ajsu-P also questioned the govt’s mechanism to prevent paper leaks and demanded the removal of the JAC chairman. Party leader Sanjay Mehta said, “We demand a high-level probe into the incident. The govt must implement a transparent examination system.”
