New Delhi: Over 200 cases of mass copying were detected in Class X English language papers in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district, an Indian Express report said. Students of Class X who could not spell simple words like ‘friend’, ‘clever’, ‘fondly’, ‘tennis’ correctly, and even their own names in English, did very well in the English paper of State Board exams this year using all these words and various other adjectives as well.

The mass copying came to light during a session conducted with over 200 Class X students who were found cheating at various examination centres in Panchmahal district during the Board exam conducted by the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Examination Board (GSHSEB).

In another such instance, in the Sanskrit paper, students made the same mistakes in translating Sanskrit shlokas into Gujarati. Similarly, in the Hindi paper, they attempted the same questions on poetry and story writing, revealing similarities in their answers.

Out of the 230 cases of mass copying detected by the GSHSEB, 96 cases were caught and confirmed during a Class X English paper session from one examination centre of in Shehara taluk of Panchmahal district.

After the Board results were declared, a hearing of over 130 remaining cases sharing similar answers and even similar mistakes in subjects like Hindi and Sanskrit, was scheduled. Overt similarities were spotted by the evaluators even before the suspected students were called for the hearing. These were detected from Morva Rena, another centre of Panchmahal district. Results of the suspicious cases have been withheld.

Expressing concern over such copying trends, a senior GSHSEB official said, “Certainly this is a reason for concern for the state education department if such glaring copying cases are detected in language subjects which is otherwise considered to be easier than Maths and Science. This needs to be further investigated.”

Since the 2017 board examinations, Panchmahal district has come under the scrutiny of the GSHSEB examination branch after huge variations were detected in the Optical Mark Reading (OMR) marks and in light of subjective answers of students appearing in some of the examination centres during 2018 Class X board examinations.

Another reason for suspicion was tampering of the CCTV footage that was submitted to the board. The footage, missing at various intervals, led to suspicion. When questioned, the examination centre in-charge blamed it on erratic power supply. Upon verification with the Gujarat State Electricity Board, the GSHSEB found that the report of the electricity board for the centre did not match with the missing portions in the footage.

In May, the Times of India reported that scrutiny of footage from CCTV cameras in exam halls of the Gujarat Board examinations, had put about 1,800 students under the scanner.

GSHSEB officials said that soon after the exam ended, they had instructed all district educational officers to examine the footage and list out students who seen cheating in the examination.

The first round of footage scanning shows 1,800 students who are suspected to have cheated, against the 2,500 students caught in the 2017 examinations. Board officials said ten districts are yet to provide lists of students suspected to have cheated, adding that 236 students were caught cheating in the examination by the various squads of the board or by invigilators.

Board officials said these students will face penalties according to the new rules. GSHSEB had introduced stricter penalties for the use of technology to cheat. The board said that if a student is found to be asking for help — orally or using signs — he or she will face punitive action, including cancellation of the result in the subject in which the violation occurred, the report said.