TN CBSE schools leaking question papers, manipulating results: Plaint

TN CBSE schools leaking question papers, manipulating results: Plaint

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:24.12.2021

Some CBSE schools across Tamil Nadu have been manipulating Class X and Class XII exam results by leaking question papers and getting their teachers to help students answer them, according to a complaint to the school board.

The whistleblower is the CBSE Schools’ Management Association (CSMA), an umbrella organisation of such schools in Tamil Nadu. It has asked the Central Board for Secondary Education to cancel the exams, which began in December first week.

This academic year, CBSE had introduced a new exam pattern for Classes X and XII. The first phase, in December, had multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and the second phase, scheduled for March, requires descriptive answers.

The CBSE allowed all schools to conduct and evaluate the December exam papers on their own, with only one external supervisor. The CSMA says the fraudsters are violating this trust.

The CSMA has sent to the CBSE an eight-page letter detailing how question papers were leaked to students through WhatsApp, LAN and as hard copies. The students would be made to sit in a separate hall and given the answers before they were sent to the exam halls.

Students were also taught to manipulate the OMR sheets.

Teachers changed answers in CBSE schools: CSMA

First, the schools asked students to write option ‘c’ (in lower case), in the last answer box if they were not sure of the answer. After the exam, the teachers would change the ‘c’ to ‘a’ or ‘b’ or ‘d’, whichever was the right answer, according to the letter accessed by TOI. Sources said it was easy to change ‘c’ (lowercase) to the other letters, which was why the students were asked to write it when they were not sure of the answer.

The CBSE got wind of this practice — by this time the major subjects were done — and decreed that only capital letters should be used when choosing the answer option. CSMA secretary P Ashok Shankar says the scamsters then started telling the students to leave the boxes empty if they didn’t know the answers. The teachers would later fill in the correct answers.

Ashok Shankar said that since there was only one external observer in a school, teachers could easily manipulate the answer scripts. In many schools, 15 to 20 students got full marks, and no student failed because of this malpractice. “The career and the spirit of the students stand totally shattered today and their future has come under a cloud,” he said.

Though the CBSE’s Chennai regional officer Dinesh Ram was unavailable for comment, other board sources confirmed they were looking into the complaint. “The board had trusted the schools to conduct the exam in a fair manner. It is unfortunate if they misused the loopholes in the process,” said a senior CBSE official requesting anonymity.

The CBSE has announced that it will not declare pass or fail status for term I exams. Only marks will be considered while offering the year-end results, the official added.

Genome test detects 33 more Omicron cases in TN

Genome test detects 33 more Omicron cases in TN

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:24.12.2021

Whole genome sequencing has confirmed the presence of Omicron variant in at least 33 more Covid-19 patients in Tamil Nadu, health minister Ma Subramanian said on Thursday. With this, 34 patients — passengers with an international travel history and their close contacts — were found to be positive for the variant.

“We have received confirmation that 33 more people were carrying the new variant. Earlier, a person who travelled from

Nigeria via Doha tested positive for Omicron,” Subramanian said. As per ICMR protocol, all international passengers from ‘at-risk’ countries should undergo screening at airports. Those who test negative are allowed domiciliary quarantine and are instructed to do a repeat test on the eighth day. Those who test positive will be sent to hospitals for isolation and their samples will be sent for whole genome sequencing tests to labs in Chennai, Bengaluru and Pune. At least 2% of passengers from other countries are tested.

First Omicron patient gets discharged

On Friday, health department will brief the CM and senior officials on advisories issued by the Union health ministry so the state can plan for prevention and management of the viral infection, Subramanian said.

Meanwhile, the first Omicron patient, a person who travelled to Chennai from Nigeria via Doha, was discharged from the Government Covid Hospital in Guindy along with two of his relatives on Thursday. With this, Omicon cases in the state dropped to 31. “They had mild infection and have now tested negative,” Subramanian said.

Until 8am on Thursday, the state had tested 15,259 passengers, who had travelled from ‘at risk’ countries, and 2,870 of the 1,00,950 passengers who travelled from other countries. Of the 18,129 tests, 114 passengers — 45 on arrival, 48 on the eighth day and 21 family and close contacts — have tested positive .

The state sent all 114 samples to whole genome sequencing labs. Among the 114 Covid-19 patients, S-gene drop was noticed in 57. On Thursday, the state received results for 60 samples. Most (33) of them were Omicron positive and 20 were Delta positive, he said. Almost all 114 patients suffered a mild form of the viral infection and 26 patients have been discharged until Thursday evening, he added. During a meeting on Thursday, the state health department again insisted on the need for testing on arrival and mandatory home quarantine for international passengers. “Of the 57 patients who had Sgene drop, nearly 37 were passengers or contacts of passengers who travelled from countries that were not at risk. While 19 contacts of patients from other countries were tested positive, there were just two among people who came from countries at risk,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan.

The state, he said, pushed for booster doses, vaccination for children and urged the Centre to extend the service of health care workers appointed on contract under the central scheme until March 31, 2022.

60% of adults fully vaxxed, 89% with 1 dose

GOVT MAY REVIEW POLICY BY DEC-END

60% of adults fully vaxxed, 89% with 1 dose

Sushmi.Dey@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:24.12.2021

More than 60% of India’s adults are now fully vaccinated with two doses of anti-Covid shots, while nearly 89% have received at least the first dose. More than 140 crore doses have been administered across the country since the vaccination programme was launched on January 16.

In the wake of increasing Omicron cases, the Centre also advised states going in for elections in the near future to exponentially ramp up vaccination, especially in low coverage districts. Besides, all states were advised to accord special focus to those districts where first and second dose coverage is lower than the national average.

The progress in coverage assumes significance in light of Omicron, the new variant of SARS-CoV2 which is spreading at least three times faster than the Delta variant. While full vaccination can protect individuals from severe disease and deaths, experts are also betting that large-scale vaccine-induced immunity may prevent transmission to an extent and further mutation.

Once majority of the adult population is covered with two doses, the government is likely to review the vaccination policy by end of December.

‘Omicron may trigger 3rd wave, peak in Feb’

IIT KANPUR STUDY

‘Omicron may trigger 3rd wave, peak in Feb’

Syed.Akbar@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:24.12.2021

Researchers at IIT Kanpur have predicted that a third wave, which may be triggered by the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus, may peak in India by February 3.

“Assuming that a third wave of Covid-19 hits the country, and following the trends happening around the world, this project report forecasts India’s third wave of Covid-19 to start around mid-December and peak in the beginning of February,” the report, published in online preprint server MedRxiv, said. The research report used the data of the first and second waves in India, and the current rise in cases triggered by Omicron in various countries, to predict a possible third wave in the country.

The researchers said the study “suggests the cases reach peak value after 735 days from our initial observation date, which is January 30, 2020, when India reported its first official case of Covid-19. So, the cases start rising around December 15, 2021, and the peak of the third wave will occur on Thursday, February 3, 2022”.

Card tokenisation last date put off by 6 mths

Card tokenisation last date put off by 6 mths

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai:24.12.2021

E-commerce companies and other establishments that accept payment online will now have six more months before they have to delete credit card data from their systems. The RBI on Thursday said it was extending by six months its deadline for nonbank payment aggregators and merchants to purge card data they have stored.

The RBI also allowed the payment industry to devise new methods to handle recurring payments and equated monthly instalment (EMI) payments without storing cards. On March 31, the RBI had asked all non-bank payment system participants and merchants to purge card data from their systems by December 31, 2021.

Online billers, including e- commerce companies, ticketing services and other providers, have been storing credit card data in their customers’ accounts so that customers do not have to key in card data each time they make payments.

No KYC update? A/cs will be frozen

Many customers of banks and other financial services who have not updated their identity and address proof documents may find their accounts frozen in the new year. The reason: On December 31, 2021, the RBI’s freeze on action by banks against customers who have not complied with KYC norms will come to an end. P 19

Token data, if breached, can’t be used by hackers

The RBI does not want entities it does not regulate to store card information as some merchants store millions of card information and a breach could result in card information being exposed.

According to central banking sources, the number of malware attacks on business establishments is on the rise.

To ensure that card data is not put at risk and at the same time ensure that the customer is not inconvenienced, the RBI has come out with tokenisation guidelines.

Here the customer authorises the bank or payment network (Visa, Mastercard, Rupay) to issue a token to the merchant, which corresponds to their account. The merchant then uses the token in place of the card for accepting payments and processing refunds.

If the merchant’s servers are breached and token data is stolen, it cannot be used by the hacker.

“We would like to thank RBI for giving industry this much needed time to scale up its efforts and work towards achieving the true intent of this guideline. PCI will work with the industry and RBI to come up with solutions to handle any use cases such as refunds and post-transaction activity, including chargeback handling, dispute resolution, reward/loyalty programme that currently requires the storage of card data by entities other than card issuers and card networks,” said Vishwas Patel, director Infibeam Avenues and chairman of the Payments Council of India.

“As an industry, we are firmly committed to achieving the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) vision of enhanced customer protection of customer card credentials and have all embarked on that journey,” said Srinivasu MN, founder, Billdesk and co-chair of the BBPS committee at PCI.

He said the industry will use the next six months to implement appropriate uniform solutions for seamless migration for cardholders as well as ensuring adequate security for storage.

Special trains to clear Pongal rush

Special trains to clear Pongal rush

Chennai:24.12.2021

Southern Railway has introduced special trains to clear the passenger rush for the upcoming Pongal holidays. No. 06001Tambaram-Tirunelveli Superfast special fare special will leave Tambaram at 9.45pm on January 12. No. 06002 Tirunelveli –Tambaram Superfast special fare special will leave Tirunelveli at 9.30pm on January 13.

No. 06005 Chennai Egmore - Nagercoil superfast special fare special will leave at 3.30pm on January 13. No. 06006 Nagercoil - Chennai Egmore special fare special will leave Nagercoil at 3.10pm on January 14. 06004 Nagercoil – Tambaram superfast special fare special will leave at 4.15pm on January 16. No. 06003Tambaram - Nagercoil superfast special fare special will leave Tambaram at3.45pm on January 17. No. 06040 Tirunelveli - Tambaram special fare special will leave at 7pm on January 16. No. 06039 Tambaram-Tirunelveli special fare special will leave Tambaram at 10.45am on January 17. TNN

TN docs take booster shot in secret

TN docs take booster shot in secret

Taking More Than Two Doses Can Invite Action

Sambath.Kumar@timesgroup.com

Coimbatore:24.12.2021

Practising doctors in private and government hospitals across the state are taking a third dose of covid vaccine on the sly.

Some doctors said they went to a private hospital, where stocks have piled up for several months, but many told TOI that they drew vaccines from vials in government supply. Every vial has at least 10 doses. “When only eight persons turn up till the end of vaccination on a day, two doses go for waste. Doctors use those for the booster,” said a doctor from Coimbatore ESI hospital.

Over the past few days, doctors’ groups have been abuzz with the ideal third dose, international studies and experiences on social media groups. Some doctors, who took two doses of Covidshield are taking Covaxin as a third dose, and vice versa.

Informal studies done by several hospitals including MGM Healthcare in Chennai showed that the antibody levels were extremely low. "We are hearing stories of breakthrough infections despite complete vaccination from across the globe. Doctors were the first to get vaccinated early this year. The duration between the two doses of Covishield was just 30 days instead of 82 days. So, the efficacy was low too. The government should consider booster doses for all healthcare providers," said another senior doctor.

As of now, the Centre has approved the vaccine only for emergency use. “They have permitted only two doses. Taking more doses will be a violation,” said director of public health Dr TS Selvavinayagam. “It is better to wait for an official notification from the government,” he said.

Doctors say they have waited enough. “Many of us are elderly and have co-morbid conditions. We will be forced to shut down clinics if there are no boosters,” said a senior doctor.

One of the reasons doctors considered mixed vaccines for the third dose is an incident from Uttar Pradesh during the second wave. “Some persons who took Covishield as their first dose were wrongly administered with Covaxin when they went to take their second dose. Their antibody levels increased. Some of the studies, including that of ICMR, showed better immunogenicity response for the combination of the two vaccines earlier this year which has been encouraging doctors to go for a third shot,” said a doctor from the government medical college hospital in Coimbatore.