Bihar Minister seeks public cooperation to end cheating in examinations

A day after shocking photographs emerged of friends and relatives scaling a high-rise examination centre in Bihar to pass answer chits to their wards, State Education Minister P.K. Shahi admitted on Thursday that stopping malpractices in Board examinations was a huge task.

Lalkeshwar Prasad, Chairman of the Bihar School Examination Board, visited the centre at Mahnar in Vaishali district, but he and his colleagues faced the wrath of parents and others.

“I have written to the administration in every district to keep strict vigil at the centres,” Mr. Prasad told The Hindu.

Mr. Shahi sought public cooperation for conducting free and fair examinations in the State.

“It is a big challenge to stop 100 per cent unfair means in the examination,” he said.

“I also want to ask people if it is not the responsibility of society as well to stop it?”

In Bihar, at least four or five people come to the centres to help the candidates, Mr. Shahi told presspersons. The Board examinations for Standard X students in the State began on March 17 and would conclude on March 24. Over 14.26 lakh students are appearing at more than 1,100 centres. Over 1,000 examinees have been expelled in the first two days for using unfair means. However, it was not the first time that such large-scale malpractices were taking place in the State.

Threats

The friends and relatives of examinees often hurl stones at authorities deputed to stop unfair means at the centres. They bribe policemen and teachers to pass on chits to their wards.

“If we try to stop unfair means at a centre, friends and family members of the examinees gang up to intimidate us,” Saroj Sinha, a schoolteacher at Vaishali, told The Hindu. Even on Thursday, people scaled walls to hand over chits to examinees at centres in Sharsha and Khagaria districts.

Video: Parents caught helping Class 10 Board examinees cheat in Bihar