Lucknow: More than 5 lakh students have not appeared for their board examinations on the first two days in Uttar Pradesh. The large number of absentee students is being attributed to the strict measures taken by the Yogi Adityanath government to curb cheating and conduct exams in a fair manner. But the comparison of the figures with those of the last three years reveals a different story.

Secretary of UP Board, Nina Srivastava, has credited the large number of students missing the first two exams to them either being unprepared or over the fear that they will not get to use unfair means. “Due to strict vigilance they are not appearing for the exams. Copying cannot be allowed at any cost. Strict action will be taken against those found cheating and copying,” she said, adding that no mass copying has been reported in the first two days.

The UP Board examination for class 10 and class 12 had commenced on Tuesday and will continue till 12 March. The steps taken by the government include installation of CCTV cameras at exam centres and using STF and local intelligence to check activities of the education mafia.

A breakdown of the numbers and data from the past three years, however, show that the government’s and the UP board’s claims fall flat. A total of 60.61 lakh candidates—34.04 lakh for Class 10 and 26.56 lakh for Class 12 – had registered for the high school and intermediate exams.

Out of the 5 lakhs students who did not appear, around fifty thousand were those whose registrations were found faulty and were cancelled. So, the real number of students who did not appear is around 4.5 lakh for the first two exams.

In 2017, around 3.39 lakh students had skipped the first two board exams in the state, while in 2016 the figure touched a whopping 7.5 lakh students. In 2015, the number of students who skipped the initial two exams was 5.35 lakh.

When Srivastava was asked about the reason for the large number of absentee students in previous years, she said she was not aware. But she insisted that this year, the exams were being conducted in a fair manner and strict measures were taken to curb mass copying.

Spokesperson of the UP Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh, RP Mishra, was also not satisfied with the government’s claim and said that while the administration has shown the will to curb cheating, the results of its actions are not significant as the efforts are being made in the wrong direction.

“The 5 lakh figure is nothing new. Last year too, more than 5 lakh students had skipped the UP Board exams. The problem cannot be solved with CCTV installation as culprits have their own ways of cheating,” he said.

Mishra pointed out that the real issue is the 30,000 bogus colleges in the state. “Action should be taken against these institutions who register as many as 500 students in a single class as against the rule of 80 to 120 students per class,” he said.

He said that the nexus between officials and the “copying mafia” needs to be probed. He said that areas like Kaushambi, Aligarh, Hardoi and Kushinagar are infamous for their “copying racket”. The only way to curb cheating is to act against these institutes, he said.

“I appreciate the efforts made by Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma as he is conducting surprise checks at different schools in the state. But before he reaches any spot, the information about his arrival is already there. Inspection should be done of the schools which are operating from the bylanes and outer limits of the cities,” added Mishra.