CBSE paper leak: Sisodia asks Javadekar to convene meeting of state edu ministers

Stressing the need to move beyond party politics on the CBSE paper leak issue, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today asked HRD minister Prakash Javadekar to convene a meeting of all state education ministers to discuss ways to stop recurrence of such serious incidents.

In a letter to Javadekar, the deputy chief minister said there have been concerns over leaks of several other exam papers and asserted that not only does it affect the future of 26 lakh students, but also puts a question mark on the "sanctity" of the CBSE assessment system.

He said if the examination papers are leaked, then undeserving students perform well and hard-working students are left behind, which means the country gets low quality officials, teachers, doctors and engineers.

"So let us all put our minds together and think of solutions for the national good," he wrote in the letter.

"I request you to immediately convene a day-long brain-storming session of all education ministers, so that we can ensure that such serious incidents do not happen again.

"This is an issue on which we need to move beyond party politics because every time an examination paper is leaked, be it CBSE, SSB or DSSSB the negative consequences are for the country, not just to any one government or one party," Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, wrote.

CBSE has announced a retest of the Class 10 mathematics and Class 12 economics papers after reports that they were leaked. Police are also investigating the matter.

"While two examinations have been cancelled and re-tests ordered, there have been concerns regarding leaks of several other exam papers as well.

"Not only does it affect the future of 26 lakh students, but also puts a question mark on the sanctity of the CBSE assessment system; a system on which students, parents and schools from all over the country place their trust," he said.

"I think that it is important that education ministers from all over the country need to sit together and brain-storm about how we can strengthen our assessment and examination systems," Sisodia said in his letter to Javadekar.