Update: No decision was made as of yesterday evening on the English II paper although Bhutan Council for School Examination and Assessment (BCSEA) board met to review its last decision as per Cabinet’s directives.

While the meeting went late into the night, a decision is yet to be made, BCSEA officials said.

The Council had tabled four options to the board for deliberation when five of the six board members met on January 4.

The options were besides doing nothing about the issue – validating English marks based on English I marks; identifying candidates who got the leaked question paper or re-examination of the paper.

On January 4, the board decided not to re-conduct the examination citing several reasons, including cost, logistics and hassle to students and decided to validate English II marks based on what students scored in English I.

The decision immediately met with huge disapproval from students, parents and other on social media. On January 7, the Cabinet asked the BCSEA board to review its decision on Class XII English II paper.

Many applauded the Cabinet’s move and said that re-conducting the paper was the right decision for the board.

BCSEA secretary Kinga Dakpa also said that re-examination is still on the agenda of the board meeting among other options.

The chairman of the board, Education Minister Mingbo Dukpa, said the members would explore all possible options during the meeting. Meanwhile, someone claiming to be a student had already posted a petition online and gathered 113 signatures as of last night.

By Tshering Palden