Kerala - Kollam   

SSLC question paper shortage kicks up a row

Staff Reporter

Official says no need to panic; association calls for probe

KOLLAM: With only a day to go for the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examinations, a shortage of question papers at 15 centres in the district has kicked up a controversy.

While the Deputy Director of Education (DDE), Kollam, K. Sasidharan, says this is nothing unusual and the shortage occurs every year, leaders of the Kerala State Teachers' Association allege that it is serious enough to make people lose confidence in the examinations.

Mr. Sasidharan says the shortage is set right by supplying from the stock of spare copies of question papers with the DDE every year. He alleges that leaders of the association are aware of the practice, but are raising baseless allegations.

He says the shortage will be rectified by Tuesday afternoon. The respective District Education Officers have given details of the shortage.

Mr. Sasidharan has called upon those concerned to desist from raising `baseless allegations' on the eve of the examinations. Such allegations will only serve to push students into a state of panic.

On the other hand, the association has alleged that the development, along with the row in Kozhikode over finding question paper bundles in the veranda of a parcel agency, gives rise to the doubt that the question papers have leaked.

Probe sought

Calling an urgent press conference here on Monday, its president, John Philip, and general secretary, A.K. Chandran, called for a judicial investigation into the incidents.

They, however, did not want the postponement of the examinations. But the examinations should be conducted on the basis of a statement from the State Government that the question papers had not leaked, which should come latest by Tuesday. The association wanted the Government to clarify if the question papers had been printed over and above the required figures and whether it was from the excess stock that the shortage was going to be set right.

Mr. Chandran said that there was no foolproof system to monitor if question papers were printed in excess.

Though Minister for Education E.T. Mohammed Basheer made a statement that question paper distribution to the centres had been completed by Sunday, a truckload of them had arrived at the DDE's office here on Monday morning, he added.

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