Bekal police book Kasaragod college principal for leaking BCA questions to students

Kasaragod: Bekal Police on Saturday booked Ajeesh P, principal in-charge of Greenwoods Arts and Science College — a self-financing institute affiliated to Kannur University — for leaking question paper content to sixth-semester BCA students an hour before their final exam.

He has been charged with criminal breach of trust and cheating after a preliminary inquiry found prima facie evidence against him, said Bekal Station House Officer and Assistant Superintendent of Police Aparna O.

Kannur University emails password-protected question papers to college principals, who are responsible for printing and distributing them. Principals of colleges with more than 500 students receive the PIN to access the paper two-and-a-half hours before the exam. Those with fewer than 500 students receive it one hour before, she said.

On April 2, sixth-semester BCA students were scheduled to write their Data Mining and Data Warehousing exam at 10 am. Ajeesh, principal in-charge of Greenwoods — which has fewer than 50 students — received the PIN at 9 am. "At 9.04 am, he posted four to five questions — which were part of the actual paper — in the WhatsApp group of his BCA students," said ASP Aparna.

According to sources, the university has found that questions were leaked for another exam, too, and the university is mulling de-affiliating the college for a year.

Ajeesh, who also teaches computer science at the college, told police on Friday that he had only shared probable questions from previous years. When Onmanorama contacted him before his appearance at the police station on Friday, Ajeesh claimed the questions were shared well before he received the PIN, and that he could prove it. The evidence, however, belies his confidence.

The leak came to light the same day when an exam squad caught a student copying at Greenwoods College in Palakunnu near Bekal. When questioned, the student said the principal had shared the questions in their WhatsApp group.

University takes countermeasures
Meanwhile, Kannur University Vice-Chancellor in-charge Prof K K Saju said the university plans to depute observers in all 120 affiliated colleges. "They will be responsible for overseeing principals when they take prints of the password-protected question papers to avoid conspiracy," he told Onmanorama. The plan is to cross-deploy teachers from other colleges as observers.

The next exam is scheduled for Tuesday, April 22. "So we will discuss this on Monday," he said.

Though the breach happened in an unaided college, the policy cannot be selectively enforced, he said. Observers will therefore be posted in government-run, government-aided, and unaided colleges alike.

After the exam squad reported the leak, Registrar Prof Joby K Jose — currently standing in as Controller of Examinations — filed a complaint with Bekal Police. He also shifted the Greenwoods exam centre to Kasaragod Government College.

The university syndicate's sub-committee, formed to inquire into the incident and recommend action, submitted its report on Saturday. "Though the next Syndicate meeting is on May 5, the report will be discussed on Monday (April 21)," Prof Saju said.

Sources said the sub-committee has recommended re-examination of the Data Mining and Data Warehousing paper for BCA students of Greenwoods College. When asked whether BCA students from other colleges would also need to rewrite the exam, the V-C said: "It is not right for everyone to suffer for the mistake of one principal."

Kerala Private College Teachers’ Association (KPCTA) state secretary and senate member Shino P Jose said he had moved a resolution in the Academic Council in 2023, demanding the deployment of observers in all colleges and hand-delivery of question papers in sealed envelopes. Then Vice-Chancellor Prof Gopinath Ravindran dismissed it without discussion. "Today, the university is implementing KPCTA’s recommendation after burning its fingers," he said.