Day one of HS: Student caught with mobile, entire year’s exams cancelled

Kolkata: A Higher Secondary (HS) examination candidate was caught with a mobile phone on the first day of the exams, despite the use of metal detectors at all centres. The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) has cancelled the student’s entire examination for the year.

The first language exam was conducted smoothly on Monday across 2,089 centres, with 5,09,000 students appearing. WBCHSE president Chiranjib Bhattacharya stated that the student strike over the Jadavpur University incident did not affect the exams. “The exams were conducted peacefully and there were no significant complaints about the questions. Attendance was excellent at 95–99 per cent,” he said. Bhattacharya and WBCHSE secretary Priyadarshini Mallick visited five centres in North 24-Parganas. However, at Kamarhati Sagar Dutta Free High School, a student from Kamarhati High School was caught with a mobile phone near the end of the exam. “We have a zero-tolerance policy on mobile phones. The student’s admit card and mobile phone were confiscated and their entire exam for this year has been cancelled,” Bhattacharya stated.

This incident has raised concerns as all exam centres were equipped with metal detectors, which were used to frisk students for electronic devices before they were allowed to enter. “Each venue had one or more metal detectors and students were checked before entering.

We did not expect anyone to sneak in a mobile phone this year. We will investigate how this happened and seek an explanation from the venue,” Bhattacharya added. Reports suggest that while the student took pictures of the question paper, they were not shared. Meanwhile, confusion arose as some schools banned analogue watches along with smartwatches, forcing students to remove them. “Ordinary analogue watches are allowed, only smartwatches or digital watches are banned,” clarified Bhattacharya. He also stated that venues would be instructed to provide designated areas for students to keep their bags.

To enhance security, a new feature called the ‘reverse jacket’ was introduced in this year’s question papers. Students had to cut a seal joining the first and last pages to access the questions. Inspired by competitive exams like JEE, NEET and CUET, this method was designed to prevent immediate access to content and deter leaks.

Bhattacharya explained: “The first and last pages were sealed together. If anyone attempted to open the question paper early and take pictures, it would take longer, preventing quick leaks. This is a standard feature in many competitive exams and we used that as a deterrent.”