Confirmed: CBSE says no re-test of Class 10 maths; top 10 developments

In the 'interest of students' affected by CBSE paper leaks, the HRD ministry today decided against conducting a re-examination of the CBSE Class 10 mathematics paper

The CBSE Class 10 mathematics re-exam has been scrapped, HRD Secretary Anil Swarup tweeted. The tweet said that the CBSE has decided to not conduct the re-exam after evaluating the impact of the leaked paper and keeping in mind the best interests of the students. Earlier, the board had decided to conduct the re-exam only in the states of Delhi NCR and Haryana. However, Swarup made it clear in his tweet that there won't be any re-test in those two states too.

Following the CBSE paper leak, the board had announced that the test centres would from now on receive an encrypted copy of the question papers on e-mail which they would need to download and print themselves.

As a result, CBSE exams in several centres in Delhi started late as they found it difficult to follow the new "leak-proof" system put in place. According to ToI report, that the new method comes with 'technical glitches' that would inevitably delay the exams.

Delhi Police Crime Branch on Monday questioned the principal of the school, whose two teachers were arrested for their alleged role in CBSE paper leak.

The police found that the teachers allegedly opened the papers 30 minutes before the exam, clicked photos and forwarded the same to the coaching institute owner. 

Delhi Police are suspecting that the CBSE question papers might have been leaked from neighbouring Haryana, a senior official said.  

Earlier, Delhi High Court on Monday asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) if they have any plan to re-conduct the class 10 Mathematics examination. The bench asked the CBSE to mention a tentative date and not to keep the students on "tenterhooks" till then.

Delhi High Court also asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Centre to file reply on a plea seeking a court-monitored investigation into the paper leak case.

Earlier, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a batch of petitions against the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) decision to re-conduct the mathematics exam for Class 10 students after the question papers the first time were leaked on March 28. A Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra agreed to hear the case for an urgent hearing on Wednesday. 

Earlier, the All India Parents Association sought a court-monitored probe into the CBSE paper leak through a PIL.

The SC hearing will also consider the petitioners' plea for an investigation into the leaks and declaration of results on the basis of exams already conducted, according to news agency IANS.

The three accused were on Sunday arrested from Delhi's outskirts in connection with the paper leak -- two of them teachers and one the owner of a coaching centre.  

There might be more reasons for concern as the police have uncovered the modus operandi that could have been replicated for papers of more subjects during the board exams. The school authorities of Mother Khajani Convent have been questioned and the police are looking for leads, according to a PTI report.

The arrested teachers have been identified as Rishabh and Rohit. They are teachers of mathematics and physics, respectively, at Mother Khazani Convent School at Bawana. The coaching institute owner goes by the name Tauqeer.

The CBSE paper leak of Class 10 maths and Class 12 economics question papers has affected hundreds and thousands of students across India.   

Here are the top developments in the CBSE paper leak case: 

1) No CBSE re-exam for Class 10 mathematics: There will be no CBSE Class 10 mathematics re-test, a source from the CBSE told the Indian Express. The decision, according to the national daily, came after an evaluation of answer sheets revealed there was nothing to indicate that the leak had impacted the exam. 

2)  CBSE papers might have been leaked from Haryana: 

Delhi Police are suspecting that the CBSE question papers might have been leaked from Haryana, a senior official privy to the probe said on Monday.

The police were investigating whether some schools in Sonepat, Jhajjar and Bahadurgarh were also involved in the leak of Class 10 mathematics paper and Class 12 economics paper of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), he said.

"We are probing that angle. It is suspected that some schools and even some CBSE official might be involved in the matter. But we cannot say anything with surety at the moment," the official said.

3) Police questions school principal for over six hours: 

The principal of a school, whose two teachers were arrested for their alleged role in leaking class 12 economics paper, was grilled for over six hours by the police, along with the arrested accused, said an official privy to the probe.

The police have also started investigating whether the papers were leaked from Haryana since some clues have emerged that the papers might have been leaked from there, he said.

Delhi Police on Saturday sent three teams to schools, exam centres and their houses in outer Delhi to investigate the Class X and XII paper leaks, according to ANI.

More than 60 people have been questioned till now, out of which 10 are tutors of coaching centres. Moreover, about 50 mobile phones of students and tutors have been seized, reported ANI.

4) Examinations started late on Monday : 

The CBSE exams started an hour late at few centres in Delhi on Monday as many of them expressed inability to follow the new "leak-proof" system put in place for the first time after question papers for two subjects were leaked.

5) Delhi HC asks the date of re-examination of Class 10 Mathematics examination:

Delhi High Court on Monday asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) whether they have any plan to re-conduct the class 10 Mathematics examination. 

A bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar is hearing the case. CBSE said it was still ascertaining the extent of the leak before announcing the date for the fresh test. 

The court put the query to the secondary and higher secondary education regulator while issuing notices to the CBSE and the Centre seeking their stands on a plea for a court- monitored probe into the recent leaks of the Maths and Economics question papers of class 10 and 12, respectively. The bench asked the CBSE as to how could it wait till July to re-conduct the test

6) Were more papers leaked? The authorities of Mother Khajani Convent School is under the scanner for allegedly providing the question papers to the teachers much ahead of the scheduled time, a police officer privy to the probe said. 

The invigilators are provided question papers at 9.45 am on the examination day and are allowed to open those immediately. The exam starts at 10.30 am.

However, in this case, the school authorities allegedly provided the question papers to teachers around 9.10 am.

The police are  investigating whether the school had provided question papers of other subjects to the teachers before the scheduled time and whether those were also leaked.

7) Two-day custody of accused teachers, coaching centre owner: All the three accused in the case, a coaching centre owner and two teachers of the Mother Khajani Convent School were sent to two days' police custody by the Kakardooma court in Delhi on Sunday. 

Those arrested were identified as Rishabh (29) and Rohit (26), teachers at the private school in Bawana, and Tauqeer (26), a tutor at a private coaching centre there, the police said.

The coaching centre owner, Tauqeer, had allegedly leaked the economics paper half an hour before the exam and sent it to the teachers on WhatsApp, the police told PTI.

8) Google helps Delhi Police: Google helped the police identify the man who sent the mail to alert the Board Chairman Anita Karwal about the paper leak, a police officer said.

The police officer said: "The man who sent the alert to CBSE Chairman is being questioned to ascertain from where he got the question papers and who were the culprits in this syndicate."

"The man using email id 'dev0532@gmail.com' had alerted Karwal on March 28 regarding the leak of Class 10 mathematics paper," he added

9) Congress asks PM Modi to break silence: The Opposition stepped up its attack on the government over the CBSE paper leaks, with the Congress accusing the government of sheltering the "exam mafia" that it claimed has taken over the examination system of the country.

The Congress questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on the issue and asked why he has not apologised for the paper leaks.

Taking a jibe at the prime minister, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said Modi would now write a sequel to his book "Exam Warriors" to teach students and parents stress relief, once their lives are "destroyed due to leaked exam papers".

10) Leaked Hindi, Political Science paper fake: The Class 12 Hindi (Elective) and Political Science papers being circulated on the social media were fake or previous year question paper, the CBSE said. Days after Economics and Maths paper leaks rocked the board examination, a whistleblower has come forward with the claim that Political Science paper was also made public.

Students to take Class 10 CBSE maths re-test only if the leak is large-scale: Clearing the air over the possibility of class 10 CBSE re-examination in Delhi and Haryana, Javadekar stated that a re-test would be conducted only if the 

police investigation points to a large-scale leak.

No re-test abroad: The CBSE said that there won't be any re-examninations abroad as the papers were not leaked outside India.

HRD suspends 'lax' Board official: A Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) official, found "lax" in the examination paper leak case of class 10 and 12, was suspended on Sunday, HRD Secretary Anil Swarup said.

"On the direction of HRD Minister Prakash Javdekar to take swift action against culprits, the CBSE has suspended K S Rana, the official found lax in supervising examination centre 0859 with immediate effect. A formal inquiry has been instituted," Swarup said in a series of tweets.