AIEEE 2011 rescheduled to May 8 after its paper got leaked in UP!

All India Engineering Entrance Examination 2011 (AIEEE 2011) got delayed by a few hours on Sunday when the Special Task Force (STF) of Lucknow found that its papers were found being sold in the Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh for six hours. The Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) was informed at 7:30 am in the morning on the day the test was to be conducted - May 1, 2011 - which was a Sunday, and it took immediate actions to match the leaked paper with the real ones and when it found that the real paper was indeed leaked, it decided to delay the examination.

The first paper of the exam (for engineering aspirants) which was scheduled at 9:30 am commenced at noon while the second paper of the exam (for architecture aspirants) which was to be conducted at 2 pm, actually began at 4 pm. As expected, the move caused chaos and anxiety at the AIEEE examination centers across India. Since entrance exams for the Armed Force Medical College - AFMC 2011 - was also to be conducted on the same day, candidates who were appearing both for AIEEE and AFMC were at a loss of which exam to sacrifice.

Some AIEEE centers cancelled the exams altogether and CBSE has reassured that their candidates as well as the candidates who chose to appear for AFMC exams that they will be able to attempt AIEEE for this year on May 8, 2011.

The STF found the question papers on Saturday but was unable to contact CBSE officials at night. It was only next morning that they were able to fax a copy of the leaked question paper to their Patna Office. An FIR has been launched to investigate the matters and raids are currently being conducted to nab the culprits.

About 12 lakh students were appearing for AIEEE this year, which was to be conducted in 1,680 centers across India. The lack of communication caused even more anxiety in students as they waited in the examination centers and got no question papers even after half an hour!

Papers Leaked Earlier...

• Earlier in 2011, policed had nabbed a man in February who had sold papers of LIC recruitment exams to at least four candidates for Rs 5 lakh each. In January 2011 too, the question paper of the first year B.Tech exam of GBTU was allegedly leaked. However, the administration later claimed that they changed the paper only because there was a printing error in it.
• In 2010, an agent in Hyderabad was arrested following arrests of 105 more for running an exam paper leak racket. They allegedly had struck a deal of Rs 1 crore with the officials of the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) to leak the test papers. In May 2010, Lucknow University had postponed its B.Ed examinations because its papers had been leaked in Farrukhabad.
• In 2007, two teachers were found selling papers of the All India Chartered Accountancy Entrance Exam for Rs 60,000. The exam was later cancelled and rescheduled.
• In 2006, it was noted that 37 out of Top 100 rankers in All India PG Medical Entrance Exam conducted by AIIMS were from Chennai. CBI probe into the matter revealed that there many doctors who were helping students with the answers and were also into leaking papers.
• In 2005, it was found that professors were stealing or smuggling questions papers for Common Entrance Exam for Engineers out of examination centers and were sending answers to students who had paid them through SMS.
• In 2004, a computer assistant in CBSE office was arrested by Delhi Police for accepting Rs 50 lakh to leak question papers of the CBSE pre-medical test in Bihar.
• In 2003, CAT paper had to be rescheduled as it was alleged that the printing press where the question paper for entrance to IIMs were being printed had leaked the paper.

Roles of coaching institutes under scanner

Uttar Pradesh is becoming a hub of the rackets of getting papers leaked for various entrance examinations and competitive examinations for nakal or cheating mafia. The coaching institutes that have mushroomed across the state are believed to be part of the nexus. Top class coaching institutes in Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, and Lucknow are famous for their high success rate in getting their students admitted to various programs. These coaching institutes have franchisees in many smaller towns and districts too. It is alleged that the high number of their candidates and high rankings might be associated to paper leak nexus.

Leakage Points

According to the STF, there are two potential leakage points. At the centers where question papers are stored for a day and at the examination centre, where the paper reaches early in the morning. Nakal mafia aims for lowest-rung employees at both these papers, carefully open the sealed envelope, make a photocopy of the question paper, and keep the paper back in the envelope and re-seal it.

Repeated paper leaks despite the strict security arrangements call for immediate attention and even more stringent rules and regulations.

Source: Ruchi Shrimali (Shiksha Team)

Date: 2nd May, 2011

Please find related courses and colleges here.