Thiruvananthapuram: Higher education minister Roji M John told the assembly on Wednesday that an alternative system was used to distribute question papers for polytechnic diploma exams after technical glitches affected the state board of technical education portal. The arrangement was put in place to ensure that exams across the state were conducted without disruption, following concerns over the distribution of question papers at polytechnic colleges.Normally, question papers are uploaded to the portal, from where exam centres download them an hour before the start of each exam. However, an alternative system was in place for years under which the papers are sent to institutions through official email if the portal develops technical glitches.The portal encountered technical problems on Oct 14. The issue was immediately reported to the National Informatics Centre but it was not resolved on time. Question papers were subsequently sent securely to the official email addresses of all institutions 30 minutes before the start of each exam. John said the method was used during similar portal disruptions in 2019, 2022 and April 2026. Question papers for exams conducted under the old scheme continue to be sent by mail.He said neither the department of technical education nor govt had received complaints from students or heads of institutions over the distribution of question papers. Earlier, directives were issued to take steps to resolve such technical issues promptly in future.
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