PUNE: As many as 81 cases of exam malpractice have come to the fore in the ongoing HSC and SSC examinations that have resulted in suspension of teachers and staff members for facilitating or ignoring mass copying and other irregularities at centres across the state. The exams end on March 11 andMarch 18, respectively.The action follows a series of incidents reported from locations like Beed, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, Buldhana, Gadchiroli, Nanded and Dharashiv, where invigilators and centre officials were found to have either directly aided students or failed to enforce examination rules.Several forms of malpractice surfaced during the Feb-March examination period.These included mass copying with staff support (17 cases), copying spotted through CCTV monitoring (21), individual cheating cases (5), organised group copying (28), use of cellphones (3), impersonation by dummy candidates (2), and the usage of AI-generated material (4).
Over 30 lakh students from the state have registered for both the examinations. An unusual case emerged from Gadchiroli, where students appearing for the HSC political science examination at a local college allegedly used printed answers generated through ChatGPT to carry out organised copying. Three teachers and a peon were suspended and a criminal case has been registered, officials said.“These incidents are extremely serious as they undermine the credibility of the examination system. Strict action has been taken against staff members who were negligent or complicit,” a senior official from the state board said.In another incident, barely 10 minutes before the end of the HSC biology paper exam on Feb 25, members of a flying squad visiting various exam centres to keep a check on malpractices in rural Nanded heard the answers to the multiple choice questions being announced on a loudspeaker outside the exam centre.A quick check revealed that the loudspeaker was placed atop a primary health centre in Daheli Tanda village.Though on-duty cops rushed to the spot to catch the person aiding mass cheating, they could not locate anyone.Acting chairman of the state board, Nandkumar Bedase, said that investigations revealed direct or indirect involvement of some centre directors, supervisors and teachers in helping students cheat during the examinations.“The department has adopted a zero-tolerance approach. Disciplinary action has already been initiated against 81 people, and more action will follow wherever evidence of wrongdoing is found,” Bedase said.Surveillance through CCTV cameras and special inspection teams helped solve many cases. Officials also indicated that the department is reviewing examination protocols and monitoring mechanisms to prevent such incidents in future and to restore confidence in the state’s school examination system.
