Bihar forms five-member panel under judge to overhaul exam system
Bihar sets up expert committee under a judge to recommend exam reforms and curb paper leaks within three months.
The Bihar government has constituted a five-member expert committee, to be headed by a serving or retired judge, to recommend comprehensive reforms in the state's examination system. The move comes weeks after student protests in Delhi and several states over alleged paper leaks, which led to the resignation of the Union Education Minister.
The committee has been given a three-month deadline from its formation to submit its report. Its mandate covers secondary and higher secondary examinations, university tests, professional and technical exams, entrance tests, and recruitment and competitive examinations conducted by state bodies.
The General Administration Department issued a notification on Sunday establishing the "Expert Committee on Examination Reforms." The panel will review the existing examination framework, including the institutional structure, infrastructure, and the division of roles between boards and district administrations. It will also propose a system to fix accountability for failures at various stages of the examination process, and prescribe maximum time limits for each step, from advertisement to result publication and re-evaluation.
A key focus will be on security. The committee will review question paper setting, including multi-tier setting and moderation, and conduct end-to-end security audits. This will cover biometric authentication, CCTV surveillance, invigilator deployment, and the handling of answer books—from collection and transportation to secure storage, scanning, evaluation, and result processing. The panel will also set guidelines for a clear chain of custody protocol for question papers and answer books, including tamper-proof packaging, encrypted transmission, and geo-tagging or geo-fencing.
The stated objective is to strengthen the reliability, integrity, and public trust in examinations conducted by the state. The committee will suggest measures to stop question-paper leaks, impersonation, cheating, mass copying, manipulation at examination centres, tampering with answer books, unauthorised access to examination data, and other malpractices.
The panel will also ensure that examinations are conducted on time and results are declared within stipulated timeframes, with transparency and accountability at every stage. It will recommend the appropriate use of digital technology, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and cyber security tools, while ensuring human supervision and data security.
The notification also directs the committee to ensure that reforms do not disadvantage students from rural, economically weaker, or socially deprived backgrounds, or those unfamiliar with digital technology.