Class 10 exam put off after paper leak

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Chennai\Madurai: The common half-yearly Social Science examination for Class 10 scheduled for Monday was postponed to Jan. 10 by the department of school education following question paper leak reported in Virudhunagar district.
The question paper sent to some of the presses in Sivakasi for printing reportedly leaked and was widely circulated among Class 10 students in the region. Some students are said to have bought the question paper set by the government and a vernacular daily published its facsimile which came as a rude shock to officials.
Education department sources said official apathy led to the leak. The question paper had been sent in CD format to offices of the chief education officers some of which had in turn given it for printing to printing presses in Sivakasi. However, sources said Virudhunagar CEO office had got it printed in a press at Palayankottai in Tirunelveli district and not Sivakasi.
According to CEO Bagawathi, inspection in 16 question paper centres in the district revealed that the Social Science question paper printed for Virudhunagar district had not been leaked.
Meanwhile, schools following uniform education system for Class 10 were in a quandary as to whether they could hold the examination as scheduled. However, many private schools immediately swung into action by setting their own question paper and conducting the exam.
School administrators in various districts, including Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Pudukottai, Tiruchy and others confirmed that exams were cancelled and postponed to January 10. Mr Sami. Sathyamoorthy, state general secretary, Association of Heads of High and Higher Secondary Schools of TN, said the directorate of government examinations and not DSE should conduct half yearly exams as in the case of board exams to avoid such embarrassment. A senior school education department official said a probe had been ordered.