Mumbai student caught sitting for BMS exam with leaked paper on mobile phone | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
close_game
close_game

Mumbai student caught sitting for BMS exam with leaked paper on mobile phone

Hindustan Times | By, Mumbai
Nov 17, 2017 02:56 PM IST

Police are recording the statements of the principal and other college staff

A day after it was reported that question papers for the fifth semester of Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) examination was leaked, another paper leaked on Thursday.

A college in Andheri caught one of its students using a mobile phone during the BMS’ Marketing: E-commerce & Digital Marketing paper, 45 minutes after the paper started at 11am.(HT File)
A college in Andheri caught one of its students using a mobile phone during the BMS’ Marketing: E-commerce & Digital Marketing paper, 45 minutes after the paper started at 11am.(HT File)

A college in Andheri caught one of its students using a mobile phone during the BMS’ Marketing: E-commerce & Digital Marketing paper, 45 minutes after the paper started at 11am. The mobile had a copy of the paper, the university of Mumbai (MU) said in a statement.

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

The college intimated MU about the incident, following which the varsity dispatched a committee to the college. The college also intimated Amboli police station.

At the time of going to the press, the police were recording the statements of the principal and other college staff. “The college approached us. The process of registering a first information report (FIR) is underway,” said Paramjit Singh Dahiya, deputy commissioner of police (DCP).

MU had delayed the online delivery of BMS papers by 30 minutes at all 163 centres where the BMS exam was being conducted on Thursday to avoid the possibility of another leak.

However, despite precautions, teachers said their students reported getting questions 30 minutes before the exams, which nearly 7,000 students appeared for.

In the past four days, several third-year BMS papers were leaked on an online messaging forum more than an hour before the exam. This comes at a time when the university is trying to restore order after its on-screen assessment mess. According to a senior official from MU’s examination department, the BMS papers were given to exam centres only after 10 am on Thursday, an hour before the exam. Usually, the colleges are able to download the papers around one-and-a-half hours before the exam.

The delay in the arrival of question papers worried teachers, who were left with a little time to download and distribute them. “Between 10 am and 10:20 am, we were unable to download the BMS papers as we were logged out of the system. Fortunately, we had already printed the papers of other examinations beforehand,” said a BMS coordinator from a college in the western suburbs.

The move was aimed at restricting the extent and impact of any unauthorised access to the papers. “To complete the formalities, students usually enter the classroom half-an-hour before the exam starts. They are not allowed to appear for the exam if they are half-an-hour late. As a result, even if they accessed the papers a little before the exam, they wouldn’t really benefit,” said the official. He, however, also refused to term the alleged appearance of papers on the online messaging forum, a ‘leak’, owing to its supposedly limited extent and impact.

However, a teacher from a city college criticised MU’s approach. “Even if a paper leaked a few minutes before the exam, it is inexcusable,” he said.

After reports of the leaks, MU asked all examination centres to maintain the confidentiality of question papers.

The official said MU was investigating as the purported leaked copies of the paper bear codes, which hold information about the colleges to which the paper belonged. “We will find the culprits and punish them,” he said.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    author-default-90x90

    Musab Qazi is a Trainee Correspondent, covering education. He generally writes about higher education policies in Maharashtra and new trends in the education sector.

SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On