Secondary School Certificate: Mathematics paper leaked

Examination paper sold for Rs500 at photocopy shops in Tanchi Bazaar.

BANNU: The Secondary School Certificate grade nine mathematics exam paper was leaked and solved copies were being sold an hour before the scheduled exam in Bannu on Monday. 

The paper was reportedly leaked from the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Bannu.

Zahid Gul, a grade nine student at Government High School Bannu No 1, said that an hour before the exam, at around 8am, his friend studying at Miryan Government High School told him the math paper was leaked and on sale at photocopy shops in Tanchi Bazaar.

BISE Bannu Chairman Riaz Khan said he was unaware that the paper had leaked, adding that no one had reported the incident.

Meanwhile, Gul rushed to the bazaar and saw a long queue of students buying the solved paper for Rs500. More than a 1,000 students from public and government schools who were appearing for the exam were purchasing the paper. By 9:30am, the price of the leaked paper had doubled to Rs1,000 and while the police patrolled the area, they did not bother asking or inquiring about the incident, Gul added.

“Just two short questions were changed while everything else was the same,” Gul said, adding that everyone will score at least 90% marks in the paper.

Khan said an inquiry will be initiated to investigate the leak, but said none of the board officials were involved. “Maybe someone guessed the paper and guessed it accurately,” he said. If the inquiry finds that the paper was leaked, it will be cancelled and a new one will be arranged, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2013.