Kerala: Education minister's office files complaint over Onam exam paper claims on social media

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala General Education Minister's office has lodged a complaint with the state police chief, seeking immediate action against social media channels allegedly misleading students with false claims about Onam school examination question papers, officials said on Sunday.

The minister's private secretary submitted the complaint to the state police chief, seeking action against such channels, the minister's office said in a statement on Sunday. Several teachers and educational channels are currently providing classes to students through social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube.

However, some channels are allegedly using these platforms to circulate misleading content, it said. Videos and posts are making claims such as "we will provide the question paper (for Onam exams)", "only the questions we mention will be asked", "this is the model question paper that will come tomorrow" and "you only need to study this", the statement said.

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"Such claims create false expectations among students and lead to misconceptions about the examination, it said. They could also encourage students to rely only on questions allegedly available on the eve of the examination instead of proper preparation," the statement said.

Onam school term exams

The school term exams conducted just before the Onam holidays are called the Onam examination. The complaint also raised concerns that some channels may be using such claims to attract students to their platforms and groups and collect various types of student information and data, officials said.

The statement said that, with the Onam examinations already underway, the issue has assumed greater significance and such false claims could adversely affect students' studies and examination preparation. It has also sought verification of the claims and legal action if they are found to be false, and directed the police to probe whether such methods are being misused to collect students' personal information.

The minister's office warned students, parents, and teachers against falling for such false claims and stated that strict action would be taken against those making false claims about examination question papers. The minister's office, however, clarified that the objective was not to restrict regular academic classes conducted by teachers on social media platforms.