TIRUCHY: As many as 18 Class XII students writing their public examinations were caught red-handed while being involved in malpractice in the first two language papers held last week. Most of the students held by the flying squads are said to be from matriculation schools.
It is also clarified that these students can continue to appear for the rest of the subjects in the Class XII public examinations. For the particular examination where they were caught cheating, they will have to wait for decisions taken from the Directorate in Chennai.
A source in the Education department said that the students caught during the exam were involved in various types of malpractice. “Though students were informed not to take anything other than writing materials inside the examination hall, some of them cheated during the exams. They took photocopies of the answers and tried to copy it.”
The invigilator and flying squad will file a report about the students held indulging in malpractice to the Directorate. The punishments will not be the same as it deals with the problem as stated in the report.
Based on students’ wrongdoings, the decisions will be taken. While some may be barred from appearing in two of the examinations and some may get banned for three exams, said the source. Another set of exams will be held in July and October later in the year.
A meeting comprising all the district-level education officials was held in Tiruchy on Saturday to prevent any malpractice in the exam. The officials were instructed to inform students to not to take anything with them other than writing materials.
Meanwhile, special awareness programmes like street plays are being conducted by the ‘104 medical emergency services’ in the district’s rural areas. As a result, calls for examination counselling have witnessed a gradual rise.
With the public examination underway, the second stage of counselling was recently started by the ‘104’ helpline. Most urban children are using the ‘104’ service for free exam counselling but students in rural areas are mostly unaware of it.