CBSE exam paper leak hits 2,000 students in Bahrain

Manama : Around 2,000 students in Bahrain who sat for the Class X and Class XII exams will be impacted following India’s Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) decision to hold a re-examination of the Mathematics and Economics papers, which were leaked and circulated over Whatsapp ahead of the exams.

The affected students include those from the six schools which follow the CBSE syllabus in the kingdom, the Bahrain Chapter Convener of CBSE Deepa Talwar told DT News. 

DT News spoke to Ameesha Thirunilath, a Class X student from The Asian School, who launched an online petition addressed to Chairperson Anita Karwal not to conduct a re-exam and stop experimenting with the life of students. 

The change.org petition launched following discussing with 20 affected friends, got around 1,300 signatures in less than an hour of going live online. 

“Most questions were easy. Now I feel the re-exam would be much harder,” said Ameesha Thirunilath who said she wrote her exam well. 

The Board decision has been stressful for students who have to reappear for the exam later and parents who will have to reschedule summer break travel plans. Ticketing agencies have been getting enquires about rebooking flight tickets, most of which have been booked months before. 

“Some have booked non-refundable tickets. They will now have to pay a change penalty of BD 23 in addition to the difference in the fare,” said Zainal K Thayil of Freedom Travels, Manama. The affected families include those who were waiting for the exams to conclude and leave Bahrain for good. Some have not renewed their apartment contracts from April as the exams of their wards would have been over by the end of March. 

“Many families have cancelled their visas as well as vacated their flats,” said Sobha Venugopalan Nair, an Indian teacher at Sacred Heart School. Her son, who appeared for the Class X exams, will again have to sit for the Mathematics paper. “CBSE schools in the country should meet and come up with a solution,” she said. 

Apart from the 2.5 million students will have to reappear for the exams in India, thousands of students across GCC countries have been affected. In UAE itself, close to 12,000 students will have to reappear. 

Majority of the students who are leaving for vacation include those who will be sitting for other admission tests in India. Some have made plans to join coaching classes for entrance exams. 

“CBSE as a body needs to look at the matter sympathetically from the point of view of parents, pupils and teachers as they have gone through a great amount of stress and anxiety in preparing for the end of year annual examination,” Michael Guzder, vice president - Indian Schools, GEMS Education, was quoted as saying to the  Khaleej Times. 

Meanwhile, Indian police have detained a man suspected to have played a major role in the CBSE paper leak case. 

The man identified as 40-year-old Vicky is the owner of a Delhi-based Coaching Centre, sources said.