Shoes, Socks Banned In Exam Centres in India to Stop Cheating
“Prodical Science”: this is how an exam cheat spelt political science who had topped the class 12 exam in the state of Bihar in India in 2016.
When asked what the subject was about, first Ruby Roy couldn’t answer and then said it was about “cooking food”. Media reports prompted the government to conduct a retest and Roy failed to score the passing marks this time.
Bihar is notorious for exam cheats.
Authorities this time have ordered students taking their final exam for class 10 not to wear shoes and socks to the exam centre, in a bid to stop cheating in the test.
The Bihar School Examination Board has asked students to wear flip-flops or sandals instead to the exams that are beginning on Wednesday.
“The board has decided that candidates wearing only slippers will be allowed to enter the examination halls…those coming to the centres wearing shoes and socks will have to remove them outside the hall”, The Hindu quoted the BSEB chairman Anand Kishore as saying.
In 2015, a picture of several parents scaling the wall of an exam centre in order to help their children cheat by passing them ‘cheat sheets’ went viral which caused outrage in India.
The state government was prompted to announce tough measures, including hefty fines and jail terms, against those resorting to cheating in exams.
However, cheating in exams has continued in the state.
In the recently held class-8 Boards in Bihar, 985 students were caught cheating and 25 were found impersonating other students.
In 2013, more than 1,600 students were expelled for cheating in exams and over a hundred parents were also detained for helping their children cheat.
The state education authorities say they are stepping up their efforts to crackdown on the cheats to make the examination process fair.
But banning shoes and socks has drawn criticism from the previous state education minister who said the decision was “wrong” and couldn’t be justified.
“I would not have agreed to it had I been the minister”.
Over 1.7 million year-10 students will take their final tests beginning Wednesday with the authorities organising video surveillance of the exam centre and appointing one invigilator for every 25 students.
Mr Kishore said the gathering of unauthorised people within 200 meters of the exam centre will also be made unlawful by a special order of the district magistrate.
