Srinagar, Mar 21: Director School Education Kashmir, Tasaduq Hussain Mir Thursday said that the committee constituted to probe the wrong distribution of the class 11th question paper among the class 12th students in exam halls across J&K, would submit its report within the given time frame.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function, Mir, who is also a member of the committee, said whosoever has intentionally committed the mistake would not be forgiven.
“Our report will soon be made public and whoever is found guilty will face action as per the law,” he said.
The class 12th students who appeared in the examination of Physical Education subject on March 20 were handed over the question paper of class 11th in the examination halls, wrongly set, packed, and sealed by the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (BOSE), leaving students high and dry.
Following this, the School Education Department (SED) constituted a two-member committee to probe the wrong distribution of the class 11th question paper of Physical Education subject, among the class 12th students in exam halls across J&K.
As per the order issued by Administrative Secretary SED, Piyush Singla, the committee comprises Directors of School Education (DSE) of Kashmir and Jammu divisions.
The committee has been asked to submit the report within seven days to the Administrative Department.
“The ToR of the committee should be to inquire into the incident of wrong distribution of class 11th question paper to class 12th students who appeared in the board exam on March 20, 2024,” the order reads.
The committee would look into the circumstances of the cancellation of the examination and fix the responsibility for negligence at the supervisory or administrative level.
“The Administrative Secretary has asked us to complete the inquiry within the given time frame. Any kind of negligence will not be tolerated because students were put under stress on exam day. We apologise for that. However, their paper will be conducted afresh by BOSE,” Mir said.
He said that instructions to initiate an inquiry into the incident were given by Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha as the issue came to his notice while convening a meeting of the education sector.
“He issued orders to the Administrative Secretary of Education to initiate an inquiry into it following which the Secretary of Education constituted a two-member committee. We will start an inquiry from Friday (March 22) and submit the report in the given period,” Mir said.
Besides a committee constituted by SED, the BOSE has constituted a separate in-house committee to probe and ascertain the reasons that led to “instant irregularity” in holding the class 12th examination of Physical Education subject on March 20, 2024.
As per the order, the Assistant Secretary (Central) of BOSE has said that the examination of Physical Education subject along with other subjects of class 12th Annual Regular, 2024, was scheduled on March 20, 2024, across all the soft zone areas of J&K and Ladakh.
“As reported by various Superintendents, on opening the packets of the sealed question papers at the designated examination centres by them, it came to fore that these question papers of Physical Education pertained to Class 11th examination instead of Class 12th examination,” the order reads.
It read that the BOSE took immediate cognisance of the matter and ordered the cancellation of the examination of Physical Education.
“As such, a committee is constituted to probe the matter in depth and ascertain the reasons that led to the instant irregularity,” the order reads.
The committee consisting of Joint Secretary, Secrecy, Kashmir and Jammu divisions, Joint Secretary, General Jammu division has been constituted to “fix the responsibility for the negligence.”
“The committee will submit its report to the competent authority within seven days, positively,” the BOSE order reads.
A copy of the order has been sent to the Director Academic BOSE, Joint Secretary Secrecy, Kashmir and Jammu divisions for information and compliance.
The Deputy Secretary, Secrecy (Central) has been asked to provide all the requisite records to the designated committee while “maintaining its confidentiality”.
About the charging of capitation fees and development fees by the private schools in violation of set norms, Mir said the department had already issued circular instructions to private schools that any capitation fee, development charges, or any other fees not notified by the fee fixation committee was not to be charged.
“If any complaint comes to us, we take action on it. The schools are not allowed to charge capitation fees or the development fund,” he said.