The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examination on Monday was delayed by at least one hour at some centres in the national Capital as these centres were, allegedly, unable to follow the new system of printing encrypted question papers e-mailed to them. Following the leaks of Economics and Mathematics question papers, the CBSE had announced that the examination centre would henceforth receive an encrypted copy of the question papers on e-mail and they would need to download and print themselves.
According to the new system, the examination centres were to be e-mailed a link that could only be opened with a password and then print copies themselves. All schools received a circular in this regard on Saturday. High-speed internet, computers, teachers, printers and a room with CCTV cameras were made mandatory for the printing.
The schools were to receive an e-mail link of the question papers, log in using passwords sent for the purpose, and then print sheets of paper until 10:15 am i.e. 15 minutes before the examination. The process, however, was delayed in some schools.
After the Class X and Class XII question papers leak, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar promised a hi-tech system that would be leak-proof for conducting board exams. Class 10 students have exams of various languages like Sanskrit, Urdu and French and Class 12 students have Hindi exam today.
Some Principals told that the delay is because they received the encrypted question papers at 10.20 am from the bank itself due to delay in part of CBSE officials. According to students papers were distributed at 11 am instead of 10.15 am. This happened at some schools in East, South-West and West Delhi and also at a school located at ITO.
A Principal of a school said on condition of anonymity that any major change in the way of conducting the exam that too when the exams are about to end is not an easy task on part of anyone. “Many of us were not prepared for that but it was CBSE officials who delayed the process,” said a Principal .
“We kept asking and they were only saying that paper is on its way and will come soon. They delayed it by one hour after which they finally gave us the paper,” said a class X student of a school located at ITO Delhi.
The CBSE the CBSE had to rush the printed papers to various exam centres as some of them were not having high speed internet connections and printers. CBSE officials said there were certain glitches owing to technical issues as it was the first day of encrypted papers being sent to examination centres. The problem has been addressed to ensure smooth functioning of rest of the examination.