Kannur: A question paper leak allegedly involving the principal of an unaided private college has rocked Kannur University, triggering a police inquiry and raising serious concerns over the integrity of the university’s examination system.

The leaked paper — Data Mining and Data Warehousing — was part of the sixth-semester Bachelor of Computer Application (BCA) exam held at Greenwoods Arts and Science College, Palakkunnu, near Bekal in Kasaragod. Conducted on April 2, it was the final paper of the semester exams that began on March 18.

Registrar Prof Joby K Jose said the university emails password-protected question papers to college principals two-and-a-half hours before each exam. "The PINs to open the PDF files are shared only with principals, who are responsible for taking prints and distributing them to students," he said.

On the day of the final exam, the university’s exam squad caught a student copying at Greenwoods. "The student told the squad that the questions had been shared by the college principal in a student WhatsApp group," said the Registrar. The squad reported the alleged breach to the university the same day.

"What he did was a criminal offence. So I filed a police complaint," the Registrar told Onmanorama.

Bekal Police Station House Officer — Assistant Superintendent of Police Aparna O — said she was conducting a preliminary inquiry based on the university’s complaint. If prima facie evidence is found, the principal will be booked for criminal breach of trust and cheating, said the IPS officer.

Greenwoods principal-in-charge, Ajeesh P, who also teaches computer science at the college, dismissed the controversy as a misunderstanding. "I shared a few probable questions in the WhatsApp group on the morning of the exam. Unfortunately, some of those appeared in the actual paper," said Ajeesh, who was on his way to the police station.

Ajeesh claimed he shared the questions before the university sent the PIN to access the official paper. "I can prove it," he said.

After the alleged breach surfaced, the university shifted the exam centre from Greenwoods to Kasaragod Government College. A sub-committee of the university syndicate has also launched an internal inquiry, the Registrar said.

Greenwoods currently offers four courses — BCom (Computer Application) with 40 seats, BCA with 25, BA English with 30, and MCom (Finance) with 20. Despite this, the college has fewer than 50 students, said former principal Dr K M Kabeer.

The Kerala Private College Teachers’ Association (KPCTA) said the alleged leak was waiting to happen, given the vulnerabilities of the new system. "If a principal or anyone assisting him lacks ethics or has vested interests, leaks are bound to happen," said KPCTA state secretary Dr Shino P Jose.

Earlier, the university would send question papers sealed in envelopes via official vans to be opened in the presence of university-appointed observers. That system was replaced by digital transmission in 2022–2023. "Kerala Technological University was the first to adopt the email system," said Dr Shino Jose.

At the Academic Council meeting of Kannur University on July 14, 2023, Dr Shino Jose moved a resolution to return to sealed physical delivery to preserve the sanctity of exams. Emailing question papers to principals two-and-a-half hours in advance creates a window for leaks by teachers with questionable integrity, the resolution stated.

However, according to the minutes, the then Vice-Chancellor Prof Gopinath Ravindran, who chaired the meeting, dismissed the resolution outright, stating that the university had already "effectively implemented" the online system and reverting would be "unsound."

Following the removal of Prof Ravindran by the Supreme Court, KPCTA resubmitted the demand to his successor, Vice-Chancellor Prof Bijoy Nandan.

"What can we do if college principals themselves leak question papers?” the Registrar told Onmanorama. "If this had happened in a government or aided college, the principal would've lost his job," he said.

To fix the situation, the current Vice-Chancellor in charge, Prof K K Saju, has suggested that university observers be present at all unaided colleges during the opening and printing of question papers. "We have around 66 unaided colleges — double the number of aided ones. How do we deploy so many observers? Maybe during vacation, we can manage. The V-C has asked us to use officials from the Examination wing,” said Registrar Prof Jose.

KPCTA's Dr Shino P Jose noted that his proposal — "contemptuously dismissed by Prof Ravindran" — had made the very same request.