STET candidates agitate at Marwari High School in Patna City on Friday. Picture by Sachin

Patna, Feb. 17: Confusion, boycott, leak of question paper and cancellation of examination marred the Secondary Teachers’ Eligibility Test (STET) conducted across the state today.

Sources said there were reports of cancellation of examination in around 50 centres across the state, as candidates protested after reports surfaced about the leak and late distribution of question papers.

According to reports, 30 people were arrested for question paper leak.

The examinees protested and boycotted the examination at several centres, because of alleged one-hour in question paper distribution. Sources said the examination was cancelled at four centres in the city — RPS College at Danapur, Marwari Inter College at Patna City, College of Commerce at Kankerbagh and Government Girls Middle School at Gardanibagh.

In College of Commerce, the examination was cancelled as the candidates staged a protest after receiving the question paper late.

Mukesh Kumar, an examinee at the college, said: “We were scheduled to get the question paper by 10.30am but we got it around 11.15am. As the examination’s first phase duration was one-and-a-half hours (10.30am to 12noon), our half the time was wasted.”

Aggrieved candidates later boycotted the examination for the delay.

The examination was cancelled at some centres at Jamui, Begusarai, Gaya, Munger, Supaul and Muzaffarpur also.

At many centres, the aspirants received question papers for subjects for which they were not appearing.

For instance, the candidates who had appeared for English test received the question paper for Hindi or Urdu. Similarly, those supposed to take mathematics test received papers for social science subjects.

Bihar State Examination Board secretary Lalan Jha said: “We have reports that candidates staged protest because there was delay in distribution of question papers. This led to cancellation of examinations at around two dozen centres across Bihar.”

He claimed that the board had no role to play in late distribution of question papers.

Jha also denied reports that papers were leaked. “There are media reports that STET question papers have been leaked. We have not received any information from the district education officers. Disturbances were reported in the first phase but there was no trouble in the second seating between 1.30pm and 3pm.”

The STET is conducted by Bihar School Examination Board and State Council Educational Research and Training. In Bihar, around 4.71 lakh candidates are appearing for the test.