After incidents of examination paper leak, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is now working on a plan to implement the scheme of "encrypted" examination at "pan-India" level from the next year for conducting its board exams.
The board is already testing its feasibility on a pilot basis at 32 centers located across Delhi in the compartment examinations for the Class X. As per the CBSE official, till now, the pilot scheme has proved to be quite successful and the board is seriously mulling on all possibilities of extending it across the nation for conducting the next year board examination.
The CBSE has devised a mechanism of providing encrypted question paper at the examination centers just before the commencement of examination. Whereby, the board sends the encrypted question paper on official mail ID of the receiver and password on the registered mobile number. Paper can only be downloaded after entering the password. After downloading it can be printed and required number of xerox copies can be produced for conducting the examination. The process should be completed within half hour to 45 minutes before the commencement of examination.
Terming it as the best possible alternative which will effectively plug the loopholes in the present pattern of board examinations, Anurag Tripathi, secretary, CBSE said providing basic infrastructure to schools for conducting examination in new mode is the biggest challenge ahead.
"For conducting the examination in the encrypted mode the centre should be equipped with basic infrastructure required for it that includes computers, printers, xerox machine, internet connection and generator for providing uninterrupted power supply," said Tripathi. He said the board is planning to hire agencies that will help in providing basic infrastructure to the centers.
"The estimated total cost incurred in conducting examination in encrypted mode is almost equal to that of the present scheme. In the present mode lot of cost is incurred on transportation, printing, packaging and on banks acting as custodian," said the official.
However, in the wake of the fact that conducting examination in the "encrypted" mode requires the availability of requisite infrastructure at the centre which may not be available at some centers before the beginning of the examination next year the board may also go for curtailing the number of examination centers.
Out of about 20,500 schools affiliated to it, around 4,500 schools acts as centre for conducting board examination. The majority of schools are private and only a few are Government run. CBSE officials said Kendriya Vidyalaya's (KV) and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) have the required infrastructure and it's only the Government schools at some places that don't have it for conducting examination in encrypted mode.
The CBSE is also planning to conduct training for the school staff that would be involved in the conduct of examination in the encrypted mode so as to make them aware of the "know-how" of the encrypted version before its induction.