Himanta Biswa Sarma. (UB photos)

GUWAHATI: Amid protests over alleged incidents of question paper leak in the ongoing Class XII state board exam, education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday asked the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) to complete its probe within one week. Sarma also asked the AHSEC to change the question paper for the upcoming biology exam scheduled to be held on March 17.

The council has already constituted an inquiry committee headed by retired district and sessions judge BC Das, with three faculty members of Cotton University as subject experts, to probe into the matter.

"Today, I urged the AHSEC chairman to conduct a prompt inquiry, headed by a retired judge or any honest person, into the allegations within seven days. The council has also been advised to change the biology paper completely in view of the allegations. Therefore, the biology examination may be postponed by a day or two, but the AHSEC will take the final call since it's an autonomous organization," Sarma said.

The education minister also claimed that some people get involved in leaking question papers to help students achieve top ten rankings through unfair means. This is because students with top ten rankings in the Class XII state board exams gain an automatic entry into the government-run medical colleges in the state without having to appear for a medical entrance test, he added.

Meanwhile, AHSEC has called a meeting of various stakeholders at the council's office in Guwahati on Monday to resolve the crisis triggered by continuous student protests against the alleged exam paper leaks. AHSEC chairman Dayananda Borgohain said after the crucial meeting involving representatives of various organizations, including the All Assam Students' Union (Aasu), the council will take a decision on rescheduling the biology exam. "As of now, we haven't decided anything on postponing the biology exam, but we will take a call after tomorrow's meeting," Borgohain said.

Even as the Aasu and several other student organizations have intensified protests, AHSEC has maintained that no incident of question paper leak has taken place this year. Though there have been unconfirmed reports of the board's mathematics, physics and chemistry question papers almost matching test papers prepared by a junior college in Goalpara district, AHSEC examination in-charge Jyoti Kalita had refused to term these as 'leaks' per se as the contents did not match exactly.

"Until and unless test or sample papers match 100% with the real question papers from the first to the last question, we can't call it a paper leak. Since the council had already declared that the questions would be text-oriented, some experienced teachers could set test papers for internal exams that matched partially with the board's question papers. However, considering the consistent demand to probe the matter, AHSEC will conduct a thorough enquiry by a committee headed by a retired judge," AHSEC had said.

