Not only students but teachers too will have to face disciplinary proceedings if they are found with mobile phones inside the Madhyamik examination venue to begin from Monday.

After last year’s question leak, the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education( WBBSE) has introduced stringent measures to check copying and leaking of question papers.

Instructions have been given to heads of every centre that mobile phones of teachers present during the examination for invigilation will have to be kept in a cupboard under lock and key and can only be accessed after exam hours.

Last year, screen shots of Madhyamik question paper was doing the rounds in several social media accounts after which the board had to face a lot of criticism for lapse in security measures which led to the Physical Science question paper getting leaked.

Moreover, candidates if caught with any kind of mobile gadgets inside the exam hall, their examination willbe cancelled, the board president informed.
Along with restrictions on mobile phones, the board has introduced special features equipped with special stickers to track question sets in-case of a breach.

The question papers can only be opened at 11:40, five minutes prior to their distribution to the examinees, the board has instructed. Students will be given their question papers by 11:45 and they will write their papers from 12 pm to 3 pm, the board president mentioned.

“This year we have imposed stringent measures to ensure that mobile phones are not used inside the examination hall. Only officer-in-charge, centre secretary, venue supervisors and additional venue supervisors are permitted to keep their mobile phones for exam purposes,” board president Kalyanmoy Ganguly said.

“While a candidate’s exam paper can altogether be cancelled if caught using with mobile phone or any electrical gadget, if an invigilator or a teacher is seen using mobile phones inside the venue disciplinary proceedings will be initiated against them,” Mr Ganguly said.

About 11,02,921 candidates will appear for their examination this year. Last year, about 10,71,846 appeared for their examination.

Like previous years, the number of female candidates appearing for Madhyamik far exceeds thantheir male counterparts by over 1, 31, 800.

Adding another feather to its cap, Madhyamik examination question papers from this year onwards will be set in Ol Chiki language along with other languages. About 832 students from across 37 schools in the state will be getting their question papers in Ol Chiki for the very first time.