Kerala Minister admits to Christmas exam question paper leak

Minister addresses serious issue of question paper leaks on YouTube channels, vows strict action against responsible parties.

Admitting to leak of question papers for the half-yearly (Christmas) examinations in State schools, Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty on Saturday said the Director of General Education would give complaints in this regard to the State Police Chief and the cyber cell.

At a press conference here, the Minister said the leak of question papers on YouTube channels ahead of the Christmas examinations was a serious issue. It was a challenge to the public education sector.

Mincing no words, he said the question papers could not leak without the knowledge of teachers who prepared the question papers or school authorities who distributed the question papers.

All assistant education officers and deputy education officers would be asked to inquire which teachers taught at private tuition centres, and the current investigation extended to them. Teachers who instead of working responsibly in schools were associating with tuition centres would not be allowed to continue in service. Investigation would be held against them at various levels, Mr. Sivankutty said.

YouTube channels and private tuition centres that published the question papers may get some temporary gains such as more students and money and more name, but were betraying the State’s public education and parents, he said.

Going into details, he said the Plus and Plus Two examination question papers were prepared by the SCERT through a workshop. Of the two sets of question papers readied, one set was sent to select confidential press for printing. After printing, the presses sent the question papers to the 14 district centres from where these were collected by school principals.

For Classes VIII to X, the question papers were prepared by various District Institutes of Education and Training. Here too, of the two sets prepared one was sent to printing presses through the Samagra Shiksha, Kerala. From the presses, the printed question papers reached the SSK’s block resource centres (BRCs) and then the schools. The SSK prepared the question papers for classes I to VII through workshops. One of the sets went to select printing presses for printing, and then to BRCs.