PATNA: Scenes of hundreds of college students in Bihar’s Bhojpur district writing their graduation examinations sitting on the floor and engaging in mass cheating have indicated that the change of government has brought no improvement in the education system.
The verandahs and parts of the paved yards of Veer Kunwar Singh College in Ara were full of students sitting in groups on the floor in the scorching heat and copying together from textbooks, notes and guide books on Friday. It was the physics examination of BSc second-year students of Veer Kunwar Singh University (VKSU), and the college was the centre for students from about five colleges.
With photographs of the chaotic scenes apparently taken by some examinees and their relatives having gone viral on social network sites, the education department on Saturday woke up to the menace of mass cheating in examinations. A shocked education minister, Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma, ordered an inquiry and assured of “tough measures” to prevent repetition of the incident.
“Claims of mass cheating are over-blown allegations. Some students sat on the floor because of insufficient space in the halls and rooms. The college has a sitting capacity for about 2,300 examinees, but about 4,400 were allotted to this centre by the university,” said Veer Kunwar Singh College principal Paramahans Tiwari.
VKSU vice-chancellor Syed Mumtazuddin said an inquiry was ordered into allegations of mass cheating on Friday itself. “I have ordered the cancellation of the examination of about 300 students found involved in mass cheating. They would sit for examination with fresh question papers on September 20,” he said.
Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma, a JD(U) leader who replaced Congress’s Ashok Chaurhary as education minister, said he was “badly shocked” by reports of mass cheating.
“I have spoken to the Bhojpur DM and asked the education secretary to find out how such a situation arose. The matter is being probed. We will take tough measures. We will not tolerate this,” said the minister.
Replay of Vaishali incident
The incident has reminded the people of a similar incident at Vaishali in 2015.Photographs had then shown parents scaling the four-storeyed school building trying to pass chits with answers to the examinees.