Assam Education Minister Ranoj Pegu has announced the cancellation of all remaining Class 11 state board examinations scheduled from March 24 to 29, following multiple reports of paper leaks across the state. The exams, covering 36 subjects, were called off after a leak of the Mathematics question paper, originally set for March 21 by the Assam State School Education Board (ASSEB).

The Class 11 Higher Secondary first-year exams had started on March 6 and were set to continue until March 29. “Due to reports of question paper leak and breach of protocol, the remaining subjects of HS First Year Examination 2025 stand cancelled,” Pegu stated in a post on X, sharing ASSEB’s official order.

The leak was traced back to 18 schools, including three government institutions, that reportedly broke the security seals of the question papers a day before the scheduled exam. As a consequence, ASSEB has suspended the affiliation of 15 private schools across 10 districts. The state government will also initiate action against three more institutions for similar violations.

These schools have been barred from admitting Class 11 students for the 2025–26 academic year, and police complaints are being filed against them. According to an order issued by ASSEB Controller of Examinations (in charge), Ranjan Kumar Das, school inspectors and principals have returned the sealed packets following the cancellation. However, reports revealed that several institutions had opened the question paper packets on March 20—well ahead of the exam scheduled for the afternoon of March 21.

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The board fears that other subjects may have also been compromised, given that question papers were stored at the institutions conducting the exams. Das confirmed that an FIR has been lodged at the CID Headquarters in Guwahati, and 18 additional cases will be filed across various police stations.

“While all 18 centres are under scrutiny, we believe only a few may be directly involved in the leak, which later spread via social media,” he said, adding that a detailed police investigation is underway to identify the culprits.

This comes just days after a Class 9 English exam in Assam’s Barpeta district was also cancelled due to a similar leak on social media.

With inputs from PTI