Indore: The warning issued by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) asking students to be careful of fake news regarding paper leak, availability of question papers before examinations on different platforms including social media, has surprised students and educators.
Students were surprised by the public advisory uploaded on CBSE’s website. The notice issued stated, “Board has located a number of uploads available on YouTube falsely claiming to have access to the original question papers of subjects in which examinations are yet to be conducted such as accountancy, chemistry, geography class XII, English, mathematics and science of class the papers being shown on these sites have been scrutinised and 100% have been found to be fake.”
Advisory informed that an FIR has already been registered in this connection. CBSE has also requested Delhi Police in writing to take strict action against miscreants under IPC provisions and IT Act so that sanctity of examinations and several of the board’s security initiatives remain unaffected and exams are conducted fairly and smoothly.
The reason for fake news was mentioned in the notice. “Few cases of fake and false news in circulation with intention to thwart good efforts of board and to create panic and confusion among students and public are being noticed. Suffice to say that such news is circulated by unscrupulous persons for personal and professional gains,” it stated.
Indore’s students
“Many of us did not know about news portal as it did not go viral on Instagram or Facebook. However, some people mentioned such possibilities because of last year’s incidents of paper leak. We were curious, but not enough to waste our studying time and research about such possibilities online. Fake news is common on social media platforms and it is misleading.”
Educators’ take
“Such misleading posts are harmful and they confuse students. People are doing anything to go viral on social media and increasing their reach. On platform like YouTube, where views even get paid, it is worse. We hope students depend on hard work instead of finding shortcuts online.”
