Class XII: Despite the huge controversy surrounding the class XII board examination’s English II paper leakage, there was no clue of widespread leak, Bhutan Council for School Examination and Assessment (BCSEA) officials said.

“Scrutiny of papers indicated no hard evidences of leakage,” BCSEA secretary Kinga Dakpa said yesterday while declaring the examination results yesterday.

The council collected feedback from the markers after the evaluation was completed.

He said, during the marking of the paper, the markers made their observations on the basis of whether there were any traces or evidence of mass leakage; if the marks of students indicated any undue gains or loss by students, and on the impact of the leakage on overall student performance in English II.

“Besides, the random analysis of the marks was carried out and suspicious papers were scrutinised,” Kinga Dakpa said.

However, he said, there were three candidates, who provided ‘Googled answers ‘to some poetry questions, indicating to some extent that these students may have had some information of the particular poem being in the paper before the examination.

“But their answers were to their disadvantage, as they were wrong,” he said.

Kinga Dakpa said the comparative analysis of marks in English I and English II showed that the difference between English I and II marks ranged from 0-33 with varying results in different candidates, where some performed better in English I and some in English II.  It was difficult to conclude that the leak did or did not supplement in student performance in English II, he said.

Mean marks for English I and II were 49.22 and 50.89 respectively.  Pass percentage for English I and II were 91.21 percent and 94.03 percent respectively.  The highest performance in English I was 87 and 84 in English II; and lowest in English I was 4 and English II 12.

“Most candidates, 50.22 percent, scored between 40-50 marks in English II indicating that the paper was easy as mentioned by markers and students themselves,” he said.

Council officials said that a random analysis of marks did not indicate any concrete evidence of leakage and therefore concluded that the leak had minimal impact on the performance.

“The leakage was felt to be largely a rumour,” Kinga Dakpa said. “The council, following the board’s decision and the Cabinet directives on the line of actions against the individuals involved in the leakage, decided the penalties within the purview of examination rules and regulations.”

The council cancelled the results of students involved in spreading the leak, and barred them from appearing examination in the next one to three years.  They could sit for the examination after the completion of barred period.

“The adult individuals involved in the case are eternally barred from participating in any of the BCSEA activities,” he said.

Kuensel learnt that the individual responsible for the leak was traced by the council’s investigation.  However, the council was limited by its mandate to prosecute further, thus, the OAG has been reviewing the issue.

Further investigation and prosecution by appropriate professional agencies are recommended for appropriate legal or administrative actions on them.

The council has sought help from the cabinet secretariat, Office of the Attorney General, and Royal Bhutan Police.

The marking of BHSEC 2014 English II was carried out from January 14-27, at the College of Science and Technology, Phuentsholing.

By Tshering Palden