ITI exam nixed over paper leak in 9 districts
2 min readPATNA: Thousands of candidates were dismayed over the state labour resources department’s decision to cancel the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) semester 2 examination on Saturday following reports of question paper leak from nine districts, including Patna.
The ITI examination is being conducted by the directorate general of training (DGT) of ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship across the country for semester 1, 2, 3 and 4.
The labour resources department wrote a letter to the DGT to cancel the examination of three ITI theory papers, including engineering drawing of semester 1, 2 and 3. The department had earlier cancelled two papers of engineering drawing of semester 1 and 3 held on August 9 after discrepancies had been reported from various exam centres.
Labour resources minister Vijay Kumar Sinha told this newspaper that the department got the information that examinees were caught with the printed answer sheets inside the examination hall. “The mass cheating was reported from various examination centres in Patna, Jamui, Bhagalpur, Munger and Muzaffarpur among the nine districts,” he said and added the department has also written to state crime investigation department (CID) to probe into the leak.
“We need to verify whether the papers were leaked from Bihar or some other states. I also received the information that few officials of the department are involved in cheating at exam centres. Once the investigation begins, the culprits will not be spared,” he said.
The ITI examination started on August 3 across the country, including at 222 centres in Bihar. The examination would conclude on August 14.
Meanwhile, the department has decided to increase the flying squads at each exam centre from Monday (August 12). Dharmendra Singh, director of employment and training under state labour resource department, said security would be enhanced at each exam centre in Bihar.
The candidates who appeared for the examination were upset with the cancellation. “It was really annoying when I heard the news. The state government should have cancelled the exam of only those centres where the discrepancies were reported,” said Anita Jaiswal, a candidate.
Courtesy: TNN
