‘Leak-Ed’: Repeated paper leaks in board, competitive exams turn lakhs of dreams to dust

NEW DELHI: A series of exam paper leak cases this year has once again shook the education system in India and the very fabric of the public exam system. From the single-largest medical entrance exam, NEET UG 2024, to state-level recruitment tests, several exams have been compromised, raising a valid question on fairness and justice for those who did not rely on any unfair means to clear exams.

On February 5, the Lok Sabha passed the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024 declaring a non-bailable offense with punishments of minimum of 3 years and a maximum of 5 years of imprisonment, and a fine of Rs 10 lakh. To curb the use of malpractices, several state educational boards and recruitment agencies implemented strict exam day guidelines, appointed flying squads, and invigilators, installed CCTV cameras, and developed online evaluation systems.

Nevertheless, the paper leak cases and answer keys of various exams were reportedly circulating on social media platforms such as WhatsApp, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook. Malpractices, impersonation, and paper leak cases have been delaying the results declaration, and recruitment, leading to the cancellation of exams. This has adversely affected a large number of students and graduates.

This is not the first time India has witnessed multiple cases of paper leaks in a year. There has been an increasing trend of paper leaks and cheating cases followed by protests demanding justice.

The Bill passed in Lok Sabha also has a provision to “legally deter persons, organised groups or institutions that indulge in various unfair means”.

NEET UG paper leak

Every year over 20 lakh students appear in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG 2024) for admission to MBBS, BDS, and allied subjects. This year, a record number of more than 24 lakh medical aspirants appeared. The exam was marred by irregularities, paper leaks, and cheating cases in the past years as well.

In a video that was widely shared on X, a masked man claimed that the mastermind behind the BPSC TRE 3 exam paper leak may leak the NEET UG questions as well. However, there was no official clarification on this matter. The exam was held on May 5 at 557 exam cities in India and 14 cities abroad.

Immediately after the exam, the National Testing Agency (NTA) informed about the incident of incorrect distribution of question papers by the center superintendent at Girls Higher Secondary Model School, Mandir, Mantown, Sawai, Madhopur and held re-exam for the students. Besides this isolated incident, the NTA rubbished the claims of the paper leak before the exam commenced and called it ‘baseless’ allegations.

JEE Main 2024 irregularities

The third-largest entrance exam, Joint Entrance Examination - Main (JEE Main 2024), is no exception. The NTA has debarred 39 candidates for 3 years on account of using unfair means (UFM) despite strict controls and vigilance. It also said that the AI tools, iFace helped them catch 1 impersonator and 9 cases of UFM in session 2 exams.

UP Police Constable, RO/ARO paper leak

Both the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) review officers and assistant review officers (UP RO/ARO) recruitment and UP police constable exam held by Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board (UPPPRB) was cancelled due to paper leak allegations.

The UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath condemned the use of unfair means and directed officials to hold the re-exam after 6 months. The state government also constituted a special task force (STF) to investigate the irregularities. UPPSC RO ARO recruitment 2023 was conducted on February 11 to fill a total of 411 RO, ARO vacancies.

Although the UPPSC dismissed the paper leak claims, the state police arrested as many as 244 people for adopting or planning to adopt unfair means in the police constable exam. In a bizarre incident, the UP Constable admit card having the photograph of actor Sunny Leone also went viral on social media.

BPSC TRE 3 paper leak

The Bihar Public Service Commission - Teacher Recruitment Examination (BPSC TRE 3.0) was administered on March 15 for the recruitment of primary and secondary school teachers. The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police followed up on a tip-off and nabbed 270 on the day of the exam and later the mastermind Vishal Chaurasia.

The BPSC also denied paper leak claims initially and demanded ‘concrete evidence’. Following this, aspirants started sharing videos and screenshots of answer keys that were circulated online before the exam began. Several students also claimed that the accused and the paper leak gang took Rs 10 lakh in return for answers.

The EOU Bihar Police also found out that the paper was leaked before it went to the printing press. There was no barcode in the question paper retrieved during the raid in Hazaribagh, it said. The exam was held to fill a total of 87,774 vacancies in primary, secondary, and higher secondary levels.

Board exam paper leak 2024

The school boards also do not appear to be unscathed. Class 10 and Class 12 board exams also were impacted due to the use of unfair means, malpractices, cheating and paper leak. Several boards including Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh, reported paper leak cases this year.

Odisha Board of Secondary Education (BSE) and Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education rejected the Class 10 paper leak rumours.

On the other hand, the UP board secretary Dibyakant Shukla said that the board has decided to de-recognise Atar Singh Inter College, Agra from where the UP Class 12 mathematics and biology question papers were leaked on the Whatsapp group.

Kerala general education minister V Sivankutty also ordered a departmental investigation after the Kerala higher secondary Class 12 model paper was reportedly leaked.