Kolkata: The first day of the Madhyamik examination conducted by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education was marked by allegations of question paper leak, with a few pages of the Bengali question paper found doing the rounds on WhatsApp and social networking sites, an hour after the commencement of the test.
Later it was found that the pages circulated through social network were the same in which the examinees appeared for their Bengali (first language) examination. The event on Tuesday was a rerun of the Madhyamik examination held last year when a similar incident had taken place.
The district administration had temporarily suspended Internet services for two hours in 42 blocks, to be more precise in seven districts, to prevent the circulation of question papers through social media but even then the papers were found circulating on social media. In the year 2019, question papers of six examinations were found circulating in WhatsApp.
"We have not received any complaints regarding question papers getting leaked. The examination was held peacefully throughout the state," a senior official of the Board said.
Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma paid a visit to three examination venues in the city — Bhowanipore, Ballygunge and Kasba — just before the beginning of the examinations. He greeted the students with flowers and gave necessary instructions to the traffic wing to ensure hassle-free commuting for the examinees.
"Traffic movement is smooth in the city," Sharma later said.
Ananya Singh, an examinee of New National School in Phoolbagan forgot to bring her admit card to the examination venue. She started crying and was apprehensive of whether she would be able to travel back to her home and come back to the venue on time. Officer-in-Charge of Beliaghata police station Pradip Kumar Ghosal who was then doing the rounds picked up Ananya on his own vehicle, took her to her residence and again dropped her at the examination venue.
"It is only because of Kolkata Police that I reached the venue on time and sat for the examination," Ananya said.
The Officer-in-Charge of Shyambazar traffic guard ferried an examinee on his
own vehicle and ensured that she reached her examination venue at Holy Child School on time.