HSC paper identical to prelim at Malad college

An HSC question paper for the exam on secretarial practice (commerce) held on March 4 was identical to the paper students of a Malad college appeared for in their preliminary exams in January, reports Bhavya Dore.

An HSC question paper for the exam on secretarial practice (commerce) held on March 4 was identical to the paper students of a Malad college appeared for in their preliminary exams in January.

HT Image

Not only are the questions in the prelims paper at Prahladrai Dalmia Lions College of Commerce and Economics identical to the HSC paper, they also appear in the same order.

The two question papers were sent to HT by an unidentified reader.

The Board is clueless on how something like this could have happened. “We will send a report to the Board’s head office in Pune,” said V.S. Mhatre, Mumbai division board secretary, after HT faxed the two question papers to the Board’s Vashi office. “The Board will conduct an inquiry.”

“I don’t look at every prelim paper of our college or every Board paper,” said N.N. Pandey, principal of Dalmia college. “They can’t be the same. It could be coincidence.” The reader, who sent the two papers to HT, wrote that s/he got a copy of the prelims paper from his/her daughter’s friend who is at Dalmia.

The Board set the HSC exam papers in September 2009.

College teachers, who set the papers, convene at each of the Board’s eight divisional offices and submit different papers.

Each divisional board then sends possible question papers to the head office where the question paper is determined.