224 students caught copying on first day compared to last year's figure of 353; board chief claims fall in numbers shows new measures working
224 students caught copying on first day compared to last year's figure of 353; board chief claims fall in numbers shows new measures working
AS the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams began yesterday, the number of cheating cases this year saw a drop of more than 30 per cent compared to last year.
The first day of SSC examinations was like a litmus test for the reforms introduced by new Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) chief Ujjwaladevi Patil. And the steps taken by her seem to have been successful, at least initially.
Patil said that on the first day of the SSC board examinations, 224 students were caught cheating across the state, of which 23 students were from Pune division, which includes Pune, Ahmednagar and Solapur districts.
"If this is compared to last year's figure of 353 caught cheating in one day, we see a substantial drop in cases," she said. "However, there has to be even more improvement and in the coming few days, we are hoping this number will drop even further."
She said the maximum numbers of cheating cases were not from metros but from Chandrapur and Gondia districts in the remote east of the state. Before the exams began, MSBSHSE had announced a number of initiatives to check copying during board exams. Besides flying squads, CCTV cameras and video surveillance of sensitive centres, the board had for the first time introduced sitting squads', or a team of education officers who will be present at sensitive exam centres known to have history of mass copying.
Also, the MSBSHSE had for first time enlisted the help of local leaders and prominent citizens and formed vigilance committees for every exam centre. This committee was to keep a watch from a distance of 100 metres from the exam venue and control mobs of parents trying to help students.
Giving credit to the vigilance committees and squads, Patil said the experiment was proving to be a success.
"Even the number of cheating cases in HSC exams has come down. I give credit to the committees, board officials as well as alert school authorities. Also there haven't been too many major malpractice cases; there are minor attempts at cheating like hiding chits, passing on answer sheets, et cetera," she said.
After the board exams get over, students and the school authorities will be called to the board office and the quantum of punishment will be decided on a case-to-case basis. The consequences the students will have to face range from a minimum punishment of losing an academic year to a prison sentence of six months and getting banned from examinations for three years.
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