In good old days appearing in any Board or University examination was one of the most taxing ordeals a student had to undergo in his life. Such was the fear that examination fever emerged as an affliction for students of weaker frame. The superintendent and the invigilators were the most dreaded persons one came across. They kept an eye on even the movement of a blade of grass, not to speak of bigger things called cheating or copying. The policeman deployed for duty at the examination hall single handedly kept the by-passers at a long arm and nobody was allowed to walk down the premises of the examination hall.
Now all this sounds like stories from Arabian Nights. Today the entire sanctity, security and purity of examinations, especially those for entry to professional institutions, have got eroded. More and more cases of impersonation and cheating have come to notice since a long time. A nexus is formed among the stakeholders, the invigilation staff and even those who rule the roost. This malaise was brought to the notice of authorities long back but no foolproof measures were adopted to check the menace.
It is encouraging to know that the Chief Vigilance Commissioner of the State has issued instructions to the Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE) to install CCTVs in all examinations and in all halls for the full period of examination lasting 2 or 3 hours. The instructions apply to private institutions also that are running professional courses. This order will take place from next professional examinations in the State and the concerned shall have to make all arrangements for installing the mechanism.
It will be recollected that in recent past wards of some high ranking personalities were implicated in crimes of impersonation or cheating in examination halls. The Government had to remove one minister and deprive another one of his portfolio. It is generally believed that corrupt and anti-social ministers, politicians and some influential personalities from the civil society are mostly responsible for degrading the sanctity of examinations in the State. They intimidate or entice the lower staff engaged for supervision, and in this way help their wards to do the cheating. The CVC believes that installing CCTVs and making the mechanism functional during the course of examination will go a long way in curbing this menace. It is a good step and the CVC wants that no impersonation or cheating or other faults should happen because it is unjust to the deserving and honest students. The menace has become widely prevalent so much so that last year’s entrance examination in MBBS had to be cancelled. This was to the detriment of the deserving and honest students whose career was at stake. The government cannot afford to go on cancelling the examinations and playing with the career of students. A remedy had to found.
The CVC has gone a step further and advised the BOPEE to explore the possibility of conducting on-line examination at par with G-MAT, NIIT, All India Entrance Exam for MBBS etc. This would further ensure that examinations for entry to professional colleges have been fair and that no injustice is done to any candidate. BOPEE has been issued a written communication to this effect, and similar directions have also been passed on to Acharya Shri Chandra College of Medical Science (ASCOMS) and other private professional colleges, which were empowered to hold their own entrance examinations, to hold videography of complete examination and keep its record with them. With this step the chances of impersonation and cheating should get reduced and even if some discrepancy is noted, it can easily be verified from the footage of the videographs.
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