Picture used for representational purpose only

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) officials were in for a rude shock when they recently unearthed a mass copying incident involving as many as 959 class XII general stream students.

This by far is the single largest instance of mass copying in GSHSEB’s recent history. The incident took place despite the strict measures that have been put in place to check mass copying. The results of these students have been withheld till 2020 and they have been failed in the subjects in which they have allegedly cheated.

Acting on several complaints, the board authorities closely scrutinized the answer papers of examination centres from where such instances were reported. These centres are mainly in Junagadh and Gir-Somnath districts.

The 959 students wrote ditto answers for the same questions, in the same sequence and even committed the same mistakes , said sources in GSHSEB.

At one of these centres, as many as 200 students wrote the essay “Dikri Ghar Ni Divdi (daughter is earthen lamp of the family)” in the exact same way from beginning to end, said sources.

The subjects in which the mass copying instance took place included Accounting, Economics, English Literature and Statistics.

“The board is planning to cancel examination centres at Amrapur (Gir-Somnath), Visanvel (Junagadh) and Prachi-Pipla (Gir-Somnath) for class XII general stream,” said an official of GSHSEB.

The board decided to withhold the results of the 959 candidates after they were summoned by the exams reforms committee to verify the claims of mass copying.

Some of the students told the committee that they were dictated answers by the teachers at the exam centres.

What is more worrying is that many of the students from Botad, Surendranagar, Rajkot and Ahmedabad had enrolled as external students in self-financed schools at centres where mass copying were reported.

“Many candidates paid annual fees of about Rs 35,000 to the self-financed schools here however they were shown as ‘regular’ students. The students claimed that they attended classes for only about two weeks,” sources said.

