UPTET 2021 exam: Dozens arrested after paper leak; Education Min assures re-examination

Dozens of suspects have been arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday in connection to the UPTET 2021 paper leak case, informed Additional Director General, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar. The move came shortly after the Uttar Pradesh Teacher Eligibility Test (UPTET) 2021 examinations were cancelled due to an alleged paper leak on Sunday. While the investigation in the matter is underway, the state government has announced about conducting the exams again within a month. 

Earlier in the day, Basic Education Minister Satish Dwivedi informed about the re-examination within a month and further said that the paper leak case will be investigated by the UP STF.

Adding to it, he said the cancellation of the exams was done after the information was received about the paper leak. "However, the candidates will be able to give the exams again at no extra cost. An order has also been issued to file an FIR against the matter and the investigation has been handed over to the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force", he said. 

Congress hits out at Uttar Pradesh government for the UPTET exam paper leak

Targetting the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government for the UPTET 2021 paper leak on Sunday, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took to Twitter and called out the state government for corruption in the system. Tweeting in Hindi, she wrote, "Corruption in recruitment and paper leak has become the identity of the BJP government. Due to the paper leak of UPTET today, the hard work of lakhs of youths got ruined."

Uttar Pradesh Teacher Eligibility Test 2021

A state-level teacher eligibility test, the Uttar Pradesh Teacher Eligibility Test (UPTET 2021 exam) is a mandatory procedure for teachers who are willing to pursue a career in teaching in primary and upper primary classes in state-affiliated schools. As a part of it, the exams are conducted once every year and were to be held at 2,554 centres across the state on Sunday between 10 AM and 12:30 PM. 

Next, the upper primary level exams were to be held from 2:30 PM to 5 PM across 1,754 centres. Apart from that, as many as 12,91,628 candidates have registered for appearing in the first shift followed by 873,553 for the second shift. However, the exams have now been cancelled after a few photocopies of the question papers were allegedly leaked on a WhatsApp group. 

(With agency inputs, Image: ANI/PTI)