Kurnool: Ghost of paper leak returns to haunt students appearing for SSC exam

Kurnool: Fear gripped the students after a Telugu question paper of SSC was posted on social media in the Nandyal district.

A class IX student who was allowed to serve drinking water in the exam hall set up at ZP high school in Ankireddypalli clicked photos of the Telugu question paper and circulated them on social media.

This was done to elicit answers and help a girl taking the exam. When the question paper became viral, Commissioner, School Education S Suresh Kumar directed Nandyal District Education Officer to take action.

After a detailed investigation, three teachers, Neelakanta Reddy, K Nagaraju, and CRP Rajesh, were detained.

Officials deny the allegations

Director of Examinations Vijayawada D Devananda Reddy said a section of social media channels reported about leakage of class X question papers. This information is false and mischievous.

On the first day of the SSC Public Examination, the question paper code 01T & 02T of Telugu were circulated through WhatsApp at 11.30 am. Consequently, the District Educational Officer (DEO) Kurnool conducted a preliminary inquiry and identified the examination center No. 45882 (Zilla Parishad High School, Ankireddy Palli of Kurnool District) from which the above question paper was circulated. Accordingly, the DEO, Kurnool, has taken disciplinary action against the concerned examination center officials. The Chief Superintendent, Departmental Officer, and the Invigilator of the concerned examination room have been suspended from the examination duties.

"However, the incident has occurred even after the completion of two hours right from the beginning of the examination, i.e., 9.30 AM. Hence the above event shall be treated as a malpractice incident and not come under the purview of the leakage of the question paper", said the Director of Examinations.

Later, all the Nodal Officers, RJDS, and DEOs were asked to be vigilant and strictly enforce the rule that restricts the usage of mobile phones in the examination center room. All the staff posted on duty (Invigilators and others) in the examination center should deposit their mobile phones with the Chief Superintendent. The Chief Superintendent should be held responsible and strict action will be taken against him if any deviation is noticed.

As many as 6,15,398 students appeared for the exam on the first day. The attendance percentage was 98.97 percent in 3,776 exam centers in the state.