CBSE paper leak: Raj Thackeray appeals to students to boycott re-exam, calls for tough and firm united stand

Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray on Friday asked students and parents to "boycott the re-examinations" proposed by the government over the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) question paper leak.

File image of Raj Thackeray. Reuters

Addressing parents and students, Thackeray said it was the responsibility of the government, but instead of owning up its mistake, it was again burdening the students with a re-examination of the leaked papers.

"The government is incapable of safeguarding the question papers and yet it is the students who have to bear the anguish of a re-exam. Why should they (students) be made to undergo this ordeal for no fault of theirs?" Thackeray demanded.

"I appeal to all the parents of CBSE students in Maharashtra and rest of the country, that under no circumstances should you permit your children to sit for the re-examinations. If you bow and adjust now, you will be made to bend more in future."

He called for a "tough and firm united stand" on the issue.

"The government must be given a clear message to set its house in order first instead of compelling the students to suffer for its mistakes. If the parents falter now, and the students write the examinations again, then such mistakes will keep recurring in future," he said.

Thackeray's comments come after the leak of the economics question paper of Class 12 and the mathematics paper of Class 10 was reported on Wednesday.

The CBSE has announced a re-examination in the two papers though fresh dates are yet to be announced.