The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has been hit with a new problem due to its recent issue of question papers. The Mathematics and Applied Mathematics examinations were held on March 9, 2026, from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm.
The Central Board of Secondary Education began including a QR code in question papers in 2018 to enhance authenticity and security, and to prevent paper leaks. The issue occurs when the QR code redirects to a YouTube video.
Some of the students later raised their voices against the fault in the QR of the mathematical question paper. The issue went viral on social media recently after a student posted a video about it.
A CBSE student posted the question paper with its QR code and asked everyone to scan it at the top of the Question. Some reviews state that the scanned QR code for the maths question directs users to the song "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley. This news went viral and is widely known as "rickrolling".
The contradictory review of this view also went viral, with some who scanned the QR code not being redirected to any social media but instead seeing letters like A and Q. The mixed review of the QR-scanning feature pushes the CBSE to clarify the recent viral issue in the mathematics paper.
The board has come forward to clarify the confusion and acknowledged that, in some question papers, the QR code links to YouTube. The CBSE board also affirms that this will not affect the authenticity or security of the question paper.
However, the error has been corrected, which confirms that it will not affect the paper's genuineness. The measures will be taken to prevent further faults. The CBSE concers said that the voice of the people will be taken seriously and that this issue will not be repeated in future examinations.
Some students find this issue funny, and others find it creative. Amid exam pressure, students had a strong reason to laugh and make humorous comments.
The Rickroll reference made the CBSE Maths paper memorable and added a bit of humour to the exam. Still, it did not affect the paper's fairness, difficulty, or evaluation. Overall, it became a fun cultural moment rather than an academic issue.
