Chief Educational Officer (CEO) for Tiruvannamalai district, S. Arul Selvam, has been suspended by the School Education Department on Tuesday over the leakage of revision question papers. Officials said that Mr. Arul Selvam, who is set to retire next year, has been replaced by the CEO (Villupuram) K. Krishnapriya, who will hold additional charge of Tiruvannamalai district until further orders. The suspension order was handed over to Mr. Arul Selvam at around 11 a.m. on Tuesday by the officials of the School Education Department.
Officials said that as against the norm of giving the revision question papers on the day of the examinations, the suspended CEO is said to have given, a week before the examinations, question papers to two private schools in the district from where they were leaked and then went viral on social media a few days ago. On Monday, Joint Director Ponkumar, of the School Education Department, inspected schools in Vandavasi and Polur taluks in Tiruvannamalai district as part of an inquiry into the leakage. Revision question papers of classes X and XII of science (class X) and mathematics (class XII) were leaked. At present, Tiruvannamalai district has a total of 1,600 schools including 545 high and higher secondary schools with 1.27 lakh students from class nine to class twelve. In Vandavasi and Polur taluks, there are around 40 schools including government and private schools. In an official press release on Monday, the Commissioner of the School Education Department said based on the probe, it has been found that two schools namely Auxilium Matriculation Higher Secondary school in Polur taluk and Hashiny International school in Vandavasi taluk in the district were found responsible for the leakage. Necessary action has been initiated against those responsible, including the said school authorities. Also, disciplinary action will be taken against the education officials in the district for not adhering to the guidelines issued by the Directorate of Government Examinations. However, the first revision test will be held as per the original schedule that was given earlier, the release said.
