A squall of cheat sheets wrapped around stones sweeps into examination halls. Yards away, tech-savvy young men frantically tap touch screens of their smartphones to transmit answers back to pupils writing papers inside.

In the middle of its board-exam season, Uttar Pradesh is hit hard by mass copying. A state-wide investigation by India Today has caught the epidemic on camera. In a stark evidence of UP's crumbling education system, the probe has unearthed a shady nexus of parents, touts and teachers aiding cheating on school exams.

From Mathura, Deoria, Ballia, Mainpuri to Meerut, students as young as 10th graders were seen using unfair means to achieve good marks in their current pressure-packed board exams, helped as they were by their relatives and a well-oiled cheating mafia, the investigation found. At a number of test centres in UP, India Today's investigative teams filmed associates scaling walls to ping paper balls inside examination rooms, with police looking the other way.

At Mathura's Sardar Patel School, gangs of touts sitting outside received copies of Monday's question paper on their smartphones within seconds of its distribution inside, the probe observed. Answers were relayed back to the candidates after quick surfing of key books.

EASY GATEWAY TO JOBS

For many pupils from lower-income groups, cheating seemed to be the only gateway to college and jobs in a state that has a poor track-record in education. The nation's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh suffers from a chronic shortage of teachers at its schools.

According to the 2015-16 Unified-District Information System for Education (U-DISE) data, there's one teacher for 56 students at the secondary level, compared with one for 27 nationally. India Today's investigative reporters found how a racket of school and government administrators was apparently capitalising on the desperation for higher education. At his home in Meerut, Premchand Lodhi, principal of the city's Rani Avantibai Inter-College, explained the modus operandi behind the rampant cheating. Bribes, he told India Today's undercover reporters, fix everything and anything - from test centers to sending subject experts right there to the examination room. "It will cost around Rs 3 to 4 lakh for getting a (test) centre of your choice. We'll say we want a centre at xyz location. They will have everything fixed," Lodhi said, sitting on a sofa.

He admitted being in collusion with what he called "like-minded" school officials. "Brother, we'll have like-minded principals (centre superintendents). We pay Rs 2 to 3 lakh. Our work is done," he insisted. "So, will you be recovering that money from students?" probed the undercover journalist. "It's recovered from those who are weak and want to pass the exam," he replied. "It also depends on the situation at that point in time. At least 10-15 students are pushed through if the situation is conducive," Lodhi continued. Till now, he acknowledged, many students had a plenty of opportunity to copy freely during exams. "Teachers facilitate it themselves. Nowadays you get objective-type questions. You don't have to write much," he said.

RS 1,000 FOR CHEATING

Sushil Kumar Sharma, founder of Meerut's KVSS Vidyapeeth Senior Secondary School, also accepted that he manipulated allocation of test centres.

"We manipulate the centre allotment when it's done in November/December," he claimed, quoting a cost as low Rs 1,000 a student to rig exam. "If you want a good division for your candidate, it will cost anything between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500 per head. If there are 50 cases, it will be done easily in Rs 50,000," Sharma said.

Everything, he claimed, remained under the knowledge of the officials concerned. "Without that, it's not possible," Sharma said.

Reacting to India Today's expose, Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar described the phenomenon of cheating as "absolutely unacceptable". "Mass copying, which we are witnessing in some states in board examinations, is an unfortunate sin," said the minister. "It hurts, it pains and it's really a downfall of our system. This is unacceptable. Compromising on merit is absolutely unacceptable," Javadekar remarked.

He vowed to take up the matter with state authorities.

Commenting on the India Today investigation, Dinesh Sharma, Deputy CM, UP said that he will act against the officials involved in cheating. "Officials involved in cheating will be jailed. We will strike at the root cause of cheating,"he added. Sharma said, "Cheating won't be tolerated at any cost. Have asked police to conduct anti-cheating raids."

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