AHMEDABAD: Gujarat has recorded a sky-rocketing rise of over 6,000% in copying cases in the SSC and HSC board exams . In 2014, the state had recorded 135 cases while this year, 8,678 cases of copying have already been recorded.

Curiously, about 60% of the total cases have been recorded in Anand (5,656) followed by Patan (501) and Ahmedabad (243).

It’s not that incidents of copying have suddenly increased this year. It’s only that more students are being caught after the board ordered CCTV and tablet surveillance in 90% exam centers.

CCTV and tablet footage of exam centers is still being screened. Officials say copying cases are expected to cross 10,000. After the district education office reports from across the state, the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) is now randomly screening 69,000 CDs of CCTV footage to catch more copy-cats.

“The experiment to introduce electronic surveillance to complement human supervision has proved highly successful. In 2013, tablets were put in 250 centers. In 2014, 90% exam centers had CCTV. Next year, 100% exam centers will have electronic eyes to curb copying,” said board secretary R I Patel.