‘The whole process involves too many people’

M Kaikobad is leading a five-member administrative body, formed by the High Court, to figure out possible solutions to prevent the leak.

What are the main reasons behind the question paper leak?

We do not know the reasons, but we can guess. Once we receive the HC order, we will sit and decide our course of action. I think the main reason is the huge time spent for processing and printing of question papers. The questions are printed in the BG Press much earlier than the exam dates. A number of teachers remain involved in the process, some moderate it, some people type it, others work in the printing. The whole process involves many people, so the leak may have happened at any stage. But it is difficult to find out who they actually are. We will sit with the educationists and stakeholders and try to find out a practical solution to prevent the leak.

What can be the possible solutions?

If we print the questions an hour ahead of the exam, we might be able to do the process properly. But for doing this, we need to print the questions from the exam centres, and technology can help in this regard. We need to process the questions in the exam centers and take the printouts on the spot. It is not impossible.

Do you believe preparation of question banks can help?

If we prepare the questions on computer, we may keep different sets of questions in a bank where people are assigned to make random selection of questions based on criteria set by the ministry.

The government has announced removal of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) from public exams. Do you find it realistic?

I do not think so. When all the countries are determining merit based on MCQs, how can we scrap the system? We are trying to scrap it as we are failing to prevent the question leaks, but it is not a solution. We must try to keep it. We can introduce penalising systems like minus marking for wrong answers to make it more effective.

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Also Read - Distributed printing – an innovation that could help tackle question paper leaks

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How can technological tools help?

We can do so many things using technology. My department- CSE- has received numerous proposals on how to deal technologically with the issue, our teachers are also thinking of it. We will take opinions from all stakeholders and find out ways to deal with it- practically and technologically.

What is your take on the ministry’s constant failure in preventing the leak?

There was a time when the government rejected the question paper leak incidents. Now they are saying that they cannot prevent question leaks, which actually means that they have failed. It is not the fault of the ministry alone, we all have to work together to deal with it.

Do you think people caught by law enforcers are the real culprits?

The law enforcers should try to arrest the main culprits. We cannot prevent it only by arresting teachers and some students.

Many are demanding the education minister’s resignation for the failure. What do you say?

Resignation of one or two persons is not the solution. We need to think of the crisis and the system, analyse it and find out solutions. First we need to find out the problems, and solve those, and only then we can introduce a new system. The system needs to be developed with time.