Mumbai: BJP MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar on Wednesday claimed state school education minister Dada Bhuse privately told him he was not aware that the exam papers of the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), which was postponed after an alleged paper leak, were printed in Agra. He said the minister’s admission exposed serious lapses in the functioning of the school education department.Bhuse, who belongs to the Shiv Sena led by Dy CM Eknath Shinde, was not available for comment.Speaking to reporters on the premises of Vidhan Bhavan, where the legislature session is currently underway, Mungantiwar said, “The school education minister privately admitted that his department never informed him that the (TET) examination papers were getting printed in Agra. Agra has a historic connection with Maharashtra as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj escaped from there, but now the sin of an examination paper leak has also taken place there.”“The minister now says the examinations will be conducted online and question papers will be prepared here,” the BJP legislator said. Bhuse’s admission exposed serious lapses in the functioning of the department, the former minister said, and underscored the need for a review of all state-level examinations.He said he had urged the minister to conduct a thorough audit of every exam organised by the state govt to ensure they were conducted fairly and peacefully and to establish a foolproof mechanism to prevent such incidents in future.During a discussion in the legislature over the alleged TET paper leak on Monday, Mungantiwar had questioned the state govt over the TET paper leak.
