mmalabanan
Around 600 Grade 10 students in eastern state of Bihar in India were expelled for massive cheating during an examination conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) this week.
Despite tight security, examines managed to sneak in cheat notes and textbooks inside testing centers.
Parents, relatives and friends of the examinees risked their lives by scaling walls of school buildings just to pass cheat notes to students.
This cheating incident particularly occurred in districts of Chhapra, Saharsa, Vaishali and Hajipur.
Shortly after the incident, photographs and videos of parents and family members climbing walls more than five floors high quickly became viral not just in India but worldwide. Furthermore, students being slapped by school inspectors for using cheat sheets also surfaced.
In a report by BBC, several photos of policemen accepting bribes in testing centres also emerged online.
Meanwhile, about 2 dozen of parents who were caught helping their children cheat were held, but were allowed to go several hours after.
The country’s education authorities have already cancelled examinations conducted at the four centres after massive cheating cases were reported.
Bihar’s education minister P.K. Shahi said: “It’s virtually impossible to conduct fair examinations without the cooperation of parents.”
Sriniwas Tiwari, secretary of Bihar School Examination Board, said students who will be proven guilty of cheating may be banned from taking the exam for up to three years. They could also be asked to pay a fine or placed in jail for their violations.
A Washington Post article revealed that cheating has become prevalent in India particularly in rural areas because of the cutthroat competition for colleges and jobs.
However, many education experts in India believe that the malpractice is brought about by predicaments in the education system of the country. This includes emphasis on rote learning, insufficient school infrastructure, as well as teacher absenteeism.
