After question leak fiasco, OTET exam to be conducted online

Cuttack: After state-wide outcry triggered by cancellation of Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET) examination held on January 16 earlier this month following allegations of leakage of question papers, the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) today announced that the re-examination for this year and the coming editions of the test will be conducted online.

Even as the exact date of re-examination this year is yet to be announced, BSE president Jahan Ara Begum today informed that the test will be conducted after the conclusion of Class 10 board examinations. “The process of exam upgradation from offline to online mode is underway and we will announce the date of the examination after that,” she said.

It may be noted that the OTET-2018 exam was held at various centres across the State on January 16 but after question papers of the exam were found leaked on social media, the board authorities cancelled the examination. The incident also snowballed into a political blame-game and the police registered a complaint and investigation is underway.

Meanwhile, even though candidates, educationists have welcomed the move, they have also raised questions over the implementation.

“We welcome the decision, but there are some concerns like the candidates need to undergo lot of orientation before the examination,” lecturer Debasish Pati said.

Educationist Preetish Acharya said “Candidates from far flung areas have to travel to centres equipped for online examinations.”

The OTET test is mandatory for candidates applying for teacher posts for Classes 1 to 8 in government, private-aided, and private-unaided schools across the state.