Monitoring Desk
NEW DEHLI: On a chilly December morning, police in the western state of Rajasthan, India, spotted a bus allegedly containing question papers for an examination to recruit teachers heading towards the city of Udaipur and pursued it.
They had been told the night before that the question papers for the examination to recruit teachers for the state’s government schools would be leaked in the morning, just hours before millions of students were to take the test. On December 24, 1,193 exam centres were set up for the long-awaited recruitment drive.
India exam cheating
In India, where government jobs are widely desired after, cases of aspirants using unfair means are not uncommon. Exam cheating, which includes buying question papers or paying someone else to write the test on their behalf, is one way many job seekers try to secure a place. The bus was on its way to an examination centre in Udaipur, and police suspected that those who leaked the paper were on board.
They initially stood back as the bus circled a building for a few minutes. They then came to a halt. According to an official, they found four government school teachers inside who were solving question papers for at least 20 candidates.
The aspirants allegedly paid the teachers on invigilation duty at the centre. The amount was not specified by the police – to solve the papers for them. Around 20 “dummy” candidates were also arrested by police from the bus, who were paid by aspirants to take the test on their behalf. According to police, the accused were in possession of forged identification.
Authorities cancelled the examination process after 48 people were arrested in connection with the scam that morning. Authorities have announced a bounty of $1,500 (£1,245) on each of the main accused, according to Udaipur police Chief Vikas Sharma.
Examination Scams in India
The incident was the most recent in a thread of scams in which question papers for important government exams were leaked or solved in exchange for money. Since 2018, at least 12 recruitment drives in the state have been cancelled after the test was leaked – just days, if not hours, before the exam. Aspiring students are dissatisfied with the delays and are losing faith in the recruitment process.
“I don’t think I’ll return back for the test,” says Santosh Kumawat, a 30-year-old mother who has travelled twice from the neighbouring state of Maharashtra to appear for the exam in Rajasthan. Our answer sheets were abruptly snatched away midway the second time because the question paper had leaked. Exam leaks are a common problem throughout India, where millions of people are unemployed and looking for secure jobs.
According to political scientist Pankaj Kumar, who headed the Public Service Commission of Uttar Pradesh state, which recruits civil servants, the craze for a government position causes people to be desperate. Government jobs in India are usually for life and Mr Kumar says millions often wait for years to secure one and “spending money to deceive eventually becomes the motto of some aspirants.
Since 2014, at least nine attempts to hire schoolteachers and junior clerks in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, have been cancelled due to paper leaks. Last year, authorities in the eastern state of West Bengal were forced to launch an investigation after question papers for hiring teachers were widely shared on social media hours before the exam.
The central state of Madhya Pradesh, which was rocked by a massive recruitment scam in 2009 when applicants taking a medical exam recruited students from neighbouring states to write their papers, is no exception. Question papers were also leaked and sold at high cost to candidates before authorities cracked down and arrested thousands.
Students in Bihar are sometimes not allowed to wear shoes or socks to exam centres in order to prevent cheating. Authorities have previously imposed fines, jail terms, and even detained parents for allegedly assisting their children in cheating. Exams in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh are frequently conducted under CCTV surveillance.
There are currently no clear laws at the moment to address the issue, as most cases are documented as bailable offences such as fraud and cheating. Some states, such as Uttarakhand, have passed legislation to sentence offenders to life in prison, but critics say this has done little to improve the situation.
