SEBA Exam Scandal: An Urgent Need for Procedural Overhaul

Dipak Kurmi

(The writer is a journalist and commentator based in Guwahati, and can be reached at dipaknewslive@gmail.com)

The recent cancellation of the General Science examination in the ongoing HSLC Examinations due to reported leakage of the question paper highlights the failure of the Board of Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA) to evolve a fool-proof examination procedure that eliminates the scope for such sabotage. This unfortunate event has caused mental agony to over 4.25 lakh students appearing in the HSLC examinations, their parents, and guardians.

It is essential that those involved in the criminal act of paper leak and sabotaging the examination are brought to book and given exemplary punishment. Assam Police have ordered a probe by its Criminal Investigation Department, and a thorough investigation should be conducted by the State Government to pinpoint administrative lapses and fix accountability. Heads should roll over the failures to plug the gaps in the procedure that was leveraged by the saboteurs.

SEBA’s examination procedure needs complete overhaul to prevent recurrence of such sabotage and anomalies in the conduct of examination so that career prospects of lakhs of students in the state studying in vernacular medium educational institutions affiliated to the board are not jeopardized by yawning gaps in the procedure. The decreasing number of students has led to the merger of some vernacular medium SEBA-affiliated schools. If this trend is not checked, more government schools may be closed down, which does not bode well for future vernacular medium students, and will pose a grave threat to future Assamese and other indigenous language speakers.

The SEBA has changed question papers and examination patterns, but it has miserably failed to address the gaps in the examination procedure, which also needs dynamic changes to keep pace with new challenges. It is time to focus on technology-based and digital solutions such as encrypted question papers to prevent leakage.

The announcement of the cancellation of the General Science examination not reaching many candidates who were shocked to know about it only after reaching the examination centres says a lot about lacunae in the system and a casual approach by the SEBA. The SEBA failing to reach out to each candidate instantly in an ecosystem where the country takes pride in exponential growth in digital transactions is also indicative of gaps in the planning process.

Under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the school education will end in class 12, and SEBA and the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (ASHEC), which conducts the Higher Secondary examinations, are proposed to be merged into a single entity. Mere merger of SEBA and ASHEC without adequate reforms is bound to pose the same hurdles for the new entity, and the objectives of NEP 2020 will be lost in recurrence of examination-related anomalies even after advancement is made in the curriculum and teaching-learning ecosystem.

The SEBA episode has also brought to the fore the allegations of leakage of the Chemistry paper of the Higher Secondary (Science) examination. Both ASHEC and the State Government, however, have denied the leakage and claimed the reports to be fake. The circulation of rumours of paper leak indicates the existence of a vested force to sabotage the examinations conducted by SEBA and AHSEC. Assam government needs to have clear cognizance of this vested force, and direct Assam Police to bust the gang of criminals and saboteurs to bring them to book.

Lessons must be learnt, and the process of evolving a modern and foolproof examination for class 12 under the NEP should start immediately to instill confidence into students and parents. One way of conducting the final examinations smoothly and without any disruption of paper leakage and anomalies in evaluation is to hold wide-ranging consultations with academic experts and educationists.