DC expose: Tuition lobby and some private colleges behind Chemistry paper leak

Bengaluru: The PU board may have cancelled the second year final Chemistry examination on Monday within minutes of finding out that the paper was leaked, and followed it up by promising a re-exam. But does it realise the enormity of the crime that is being committed right under its nose?

The tuition lobby and some private colleges are responsible for the leaks. And this is how it’s being done — Route officers employed by the board to distribute the question papers to examination centres in remote areas in Karnataka are tracked down by colleges and tuition schools and deals struck with them to leak the paper, sources told Deccan Chronicle. So the moment the route officers were given the question paper bundles, one was opened, the question papers were   photographed and WhatsApped within minutes to “clients” waiting in tuition centres and colleges.

Simultaneously, students were asked to report to these colleges or tuition centres at  around 6.30 am to solve “the most likely questions” of the day's examination. By 8.30 am the students were ready with the answers to the questions they would get during the exam, without being told in so many words about the leak.

How many times must this happen before the PU Board takes the precaution of keeping the questions in safe custody until the examination centres open?  Last year, it was the papers for the science stream, aimed at “helping” students of some big tuition schools. This year, it's the Chemistry paper. Could the same be true of the Maths paper?

PU Board cancels  chemistry exam, students demand probe
In an upset for lakhs of science students appearing for their II PU final exam , Monday’s  Chemistry examination was cancelled following a leak of the question paper on Sunday.

Tens of students, who got the leaked question paper via WhatsApp  Sunday evening, told the PU board about it Monday morning. With many students calling up its helpline to lodge a complaint,  the board acted swiftly. A meeting of senior officials called in the afternoon decided   to cancel the exam.

According to sources, the leak came from two examination centers at SASM PU college for Women, Ballari and the Government PU college, Malur in Kolar . The PU department has suspended the chief superintendents and joint chief superintendents of both  centres with  immediate effect and has decided to scrap them as examination venues. Students who were to appear at these centres will now be shifted to other examination centres.

Although no date has been announced for the re examination, it will be conducted by the end of this month to ensure that there is no delay, according to sources. A  case has been filed with the Malleshwaram police station regarding the leak.

Students , who were to take the exam, were predictably upset. “This is a shame. Every year this drama repeats itself. Why is the PU board not able to safeguard its question papers , especially of science subjects which play a crucial role in the admission to medical and engineering courses?” asked a glum student, Rajesh Bhat.

Many of them are now demanding an investigation into the alleged leak of the Mathematics question paper too.  “The PU board says it was not leaked. But around 70 to 80 per cent of the questions we received on WhatsApp were similar to the actual question paper,” said a student.