Mass copying suspected in HSC exam at Bhandara

A mass copying pattern has been detected in the HSC chemistry paper held in March at a centre in Bhandara district. The state board office in Nagpur has set up an inquiry committee to investigate the alleged mass copying at Vinod High School and Junior College located in Gosebuj taluka.

Chandramani Borkar, divisional chairman of the state board, said, "We have received an official complaint of a copying pattern being detected. Statements of students, invigilators and other staff are being recorded and final report will be sent to the headquarters soon."

The report is expected to be finished by next week, just before the HSC results are declared. A board official said that proving such cases in the court of law is also an uphill task since every copy is not verbatim. About 200 students were present in the centre for the chemistry exam, but it is not known exactly how many copies are under scrutiny.

Ashish Mate, general secretary of Indian Youth Congress from Bhandara, said, "We are going to call for the answer sheets of the entire centre under RTI and then the truth will be revealed. The education officials on inspection duty that day had mentioned that everything was in order during the chemistry paper, which certainly does not seem to be the case."