Affiliation of all the 15 schools has been suspended: Pegu

way2barak, March 26: Assam education minister Ranoj Pegu told the state assembly that the affiliation of all the 15 schools, where Class XI exam question papers of mathematics and economics had been leaked, has been suspended. He added that fresh admissions to Class XI, in the current academic year, shall be prohibited to serve as a warning to other schools that any institution engaging in such unlawful activities shall face stringent disciplinary punishment.

Replying to a query by Congress MLA Abdur Rashid Mandal during Zero Hour, Pegu said as per the New Education Policy (NEP), Assam State School Education Board (ASSEB) administered the Class XI examinations. “The board conducts the Class X and XII examinations. The question papers are safeguarded in police stations. However, question papers for Class XI examinations are kept in the respective schools,” Pegu said.

While all the remaining Class XI examinations have been cancelled, Pegu said the main concern was whether police assistance was required for conducting Class XI examinations. “We organized the Class XI examinations, keeping faith in the respective school authorities. The initial question paper breach happened in Goalpara and subsequently, upon further scrutiny, it was revealed that the seal of the question paper packets was compromised in 15 schools prior to the examination. Among these, 12 are private institutions,” the minister said.

He indicated that the govt was mulling whether examination centres should be moved to private institutions. The govt, Pegu said, will additionally decide on the allocation of examination centres for competitive examinations.

“Question papers remain secure with the school education board. We shall implement certain guidelines pertaining to private schools. Three provincialised schools were among the 15 institutions, which had breached the question paper packet seals. Govt shall initiate action against them as well,” Pegu added.

The minister declared in the House that ASSEB, during its meeting on Monday, resolved to re-conduct the Class 11 examinations, following the Panchayat elections.