BOSEM rules out question leakage

    18-Mar-2023
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By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Mar 17 : The Board of Secondary Education Manipur (BOSEM) has found no evidence supporting the suspicion of question leakage raised by Manipur Youth and Students' Union (MYSU) on the first day of the HSLC Examination 2023.
This was stated by BOSEM Secretary Dr Mangijao during a press conference held at the Babupara office of BOSEM this afternoon.
Addressing media persons, the BOSEM Secretary stated that yesterday the MYSU team recovered a polythene bag from the toilet of Khangabok Higher Secondary School containing notes with serial wise answers to the day's English question  paper. However, he pointed out that the notes were found at 11 am, which is two hours after the exam started.
Dr Mangijao emphasized that "question leak" refers to a situation where the supposedly leaked questions are found before the beginning of the examination and they happen to coincide with the actual examination questions.
"This is a case of some individuals using nefarious and unfair means to get a glimpse of the question paper and writing down the answers for other students to copy," he asserted.
He added that BOSEM had also called Khangabok Higher Secondary School examination OC and teachers to enquire about the issue.
Further, he stated that an official investigation team of BOSEM visited the school today to look into the matter.
According to them, yesterday's English question papers were retrieved from the Police Station accompanied by the OC of the PS and examination OC at 8.10 am and subsequently reached Khangabok Higher Secondary School at 8.25 am. Following this, the chest containing the question papers were unlocked at 8.47 am and the questions were taken out. He stated that there are video recordings of these procedures and hence no suspicion of any question leakage from this examination centre.
The polythene bag containing the notes were also immediately set ablaze after discovery to prevent any students from cheating, he said.
BOSEM has further urged the SP of Thoubal District Police to ensure that guardians of the students maintain their distance from the school and that additional police personnel are deployed for security at the examination centre.
Separately, referring to cheating cases at Sangaiyumpham and Wangjing High School, the BOSEM Secretary assured that inspection teams from BOSEM will enforce strict vigil on these exam centres to curb unfair means during the examination.
In this regard, Th Radhamani, examination OC and Principal of Khangabok Higher Secondary School asserted that the first day of the HSLC Examination was conducted very smoothly and peacefully, adding that the allegations of question leakage were an effort to malign the  school's reputation.
Meanwhile, Th Iboyaima, BOSEM Under Secretary (Computer) addressed the allegations raised by Development & Protection United Voluntary Organisation regarding the non-issuance of HSLC Exam admit card to a student of Bethel English School, Nambol and clarified that the situation occurred due to a clerical mistake on the school's part.
Elaborating on this, he stated that 94 students were enrolled for the HSLC Examination 2023 from Bethel English School through the school's online portal. Adding that there are records to support this information, he denied the school's claim that altogether 95 students enrolled for the examination.
According to a computer generated statement, 53 male regular candidates and 41 female regular candidates from Bethel English School submitted their forms for the HSLC examination, he maintained.
Further he added that BOSEM also has documents to prove that the Board received a total of Rs 2,37,200 as form fill-up fees for the 94 students.
Maintaining that Development & Protection United Voluntary Organisation are free to take a look at these documents, he urged people to refrain from making unfounded accusations against the Board.