TIRUPATI: On the first day of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) board Class 10 examinations, the question paper in the first language - Telugu was circulated on WhatsApp about two hours after the commencement of the exam on Wednesday.
Despite this, the exam was held as per schedule as the state education authorities revealed that the question paper was circulated only after 11.35 am when the exam had started at 9.30 am.
Initially, it was rumoured that the question paper was photographed and leaked from an exam centre in Chittoor district. However, the office of the director of government examinations revealed that the centre was ZP High School at Anki Reddypalli in Kolimigundla mandal, Nandyal.
In a statement, Devananda Reddy, Director of Government Examinations, stated that the incident occurred after two hours of the commencement of the exam at 9.30 am and that the incident shall be treated as malpractice and no leakage of the question paper. He denied media reports of leakage of the question paper saying it was totally false and mischievous.
“On the commencement of the first day of the SSC public examination April/May-22 on Wednesday, the question paper code 01T & 02T for the first language Telugu was circulated at 11.35 am through Whatsapp. Consequently, the Kurnool District Educational Officer conducted a preliminary inquiry and identified the examination centre No. 45882 - Zilla Parishad High School, Anki Reddypalli from where the above question paper was circulated through the Whatsapp”, he stated.
The Director also informed that the DEO, Kurnool has taken disciplinary action against the concerned examination centre officials including the Chief Superintendent, Departmental Officer and Invigilator of the concerned examination room have been suspended from the examination duties.
He requested all the nodal officers, RJDS and DEOs to be more vigilant and strictly enforce the rule that ‘no mobile phones' in the examination room, and that all the staff posted on duty in the exam centre should deposit their mobile phones with the chief superintendent. If any deviation is noticed, the chief superintendent should be held responsible and strict action will be taken against him/her, he noted.
