Pvt tutor spoiling students’ future, says school director
Pradeep Gupta & Vinamrata Borwankar TNN
Kalyan/Mumbai:
The SSC paper leak came to light on Monday morning when
the authorities at Sacred Heart School in Kalyan received information
that some of the students had the question paper on their mobile phones.
TIMES VIEW: The
incident should be treated as a wake-up call by the SSC board to bring
about changes in the examination process. Tech safeguards such as the
use of biometrics and encoded software may be needed to prevent leaks.
To preserve the credibility of the exercise, the SSC exams must be kept
free of all malpractices.
Albin Anthony, director of Sacred Heart School,
said, “Around one hour before the exam was to begin, we learned that
some students had received the paper on their phone via WhatsApp. When
we checked with the students, we found that a mobile number saved as
‘Vinita Madam’ had sent them the history paper at 9.51am. As the exam
was yet to begin and question paper we had received was sealed, we
called the board officials who asked us to verify if the papers were
identical.”
He added, “We opened the seal of the question
papers and found it was the same paper. We informed the board about it.
Officials asked us to take legal action against the teacher who sent the
paper to the students.”
The school has found that 14 students from
different schools in the vicinity had received the paper on their
phones. In a message, the tuition teacher, Vinita Khatwani, asked her
students to share the papers with other students too, said a source.
Anthony said, “We are surprised that a teacher
giving private tuition is spoiling the future of the students. We are
against such practices.”
When TOI visited Vinita’s residence, her house was locked. Neighbours confirmed that she took tuitions. When TOI
contacted her husband Dilip Khatwani on the phone, he said he was not
aware about the incident and would talk later. But later he didn’t take
calls.
Board officials said they would wait for the
police probe to get leads on the source of the WhatsApp images. Subhash
Borse, in-charge secretary of the state board’s Mumbai division, said,
“We received a call from the centre about 10 minutes before the paper
was to begin. We asked the centre in-charge to conduct the paper and
then approach the police. If police find a lead on those involved in
sending out images of the paper, we will start the administrative
inquiry and take action.”
After a series of HSC paper leaks in the past
three years, the state board, this year, had sealed question papers in
bundles of 25, which are opened in the exam hall itself in the presence
of two students. The new formula, however, was not implemented for SSC
exams, which means question papers are unsealed at the centre around 30
minutes before the exam begins.
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