The decision by the State Education Department came after two question papers were apparently leaked and went viral on social media.
As per the new guidelines, staff at the examination centres are undergoing frisking by the police. (Creative Commons)
Following the ongoing SSC paper “leak” row, the Telangana Department of School Education has announced preventive measures for the rest of the exams.
As per the new guidelines, staff at the examination centres are going to be frisked by the police.
This is because a day after the SSC Board examinations’ Telugu language question paper was allegedly leaked in Vikarabad district, authorities initiated a probe into a fresh malpractice charge on Wednesday, 4 April, when the Hindi question paper was also out in Warangal district minutes after the exam started.
Meanwhile, the Telangana Police early on 5 April arrested Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar along with three others after his name surfaced in connection with the Class X (SSC) Hindi question paper leak.
The authorities have instructed the staff, including teachers, not to carry their mobile phones into the examination centres to ensure that the examinations are conducted fairly without any malpractice.
“As per the directions issued by the department, invigilators and CSDOs carrying mobile phones will also be checked before entering the exam centres. We had already issued instructions to them not to carry phones or other gadgets in the exam hall but still, some instances came out,” Additional Director of the Department of Education K Lingaiah told South First.
He added that along with the Education Department, the police also suggested the frisking of the staff.
As per reports, officials from other government departments would also be deployed to monitor the examinations for any potential irregularities.
Along with cops, additional teams in civilian clothes will also be deployed near the examination centres to prevent any untoward incidents.
The first incident took place in a Vikarabad district school where a teacher-cum-invigilator allegedly took a photo of the question paper and shared it in a WhatsApp group.
In the Warangal paper “leak” incident, the police arrested driver Mautam Shiva Ganesh, Booram Prashanth, a former journalist and currently a BJP worker, and a 16-year-old boy.
However, in both incidents the authorities later denied the paper leak, saying the students were already inside the examination hall.
Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay was arrested from his house in Karimnagar around 12.15 am on Wednesday after the cops registered an FIR under IPC Sections 420 (cheating), 447 (criminal trespass), 505 (intention of committing an offence) and relevant sections of the 1997 Telangana Public Examination (Prevention of Malpractices) Act.
As per the remand report, accessed by South First, he was arrested for “hatching a plan” to spread rumours and disturb the peace by leaking the 10th and 12th class exam question papers.
He was subsequently shifted from the police station in a vehicle. The BJP workers tried to stop the police vehicle carrying him. The police detained them.
The BJP leader was likely to be produced in a court in the Nalgonda district.
According to the police, the person who leaked the Hindi question paper in Warangal soon after the exam began sent it to Bandi Sanjay on WhatsApp. Accused Prashanth is said to be a BJP worker.
Cops from the Karimnagar Town II Police Station said that after the leaking of the question papers, Bandi Sanjay — through press statements and social media — blamed the state government for it.
They added that he also provoked students to resort to various protest measures and acts that were likely to disturb public peace and tranquillity, creating law-and-order problems.
“I received information that the MP also motivated his followers and other BJP activists to sit on dharnas in front of examination centres, to disturb the conduct and continuation of further examinations. Such acts were likely to demoralise the students appearing for the SSC examinations, in which event there was every likelihood of students resorting to extreme measures,” said Karimnagar Town II Police Station Inspector T Lakshmi Babu in his complaint.
He added that the preventive arrest of Bandi Sanjay Kumar was deemed necessary to ensure the peaceful conduct of the ongoing SSC examinations, and to maintain the law-and-order situation.
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