Board results of open school exam withheld
Only those centres will be taken up for the exam that have CCTV cameras. We are also in touch with the IT ministry for using biometric attendance system.
NEW DELHI: Board results of more than 1,000 students who reportedly did not appear for examination but came out with flying colours in Class 10 and Class 12 in Madhya Pradesh have been withheld, sources said.
The exams were conducted by National Institute of Open Schooling in March and results were declared in May-June.
After the allegations came to light, a committee of independent experts was formed in June to investigate the claims.
There are approximately 60 centres of NIOS in Madhya Pradesh where examinations were held and cases of impersonation were found in three of them.
The board has now decided to step up security measures during examinations, such as biometric authentication and installing CCTV cameras at the examination centres.
“Only those centres will be considered for the purpose of exam that have the facility of CCTV cameras (except in the case of Kendriya Vidyalyas and Jawahar Navodya Vidyalayas). We are also in touch with the ministry of information technology — common service centres scheme so that we can use biometric attendance system,” said a senior official. This is likely to be introduced in the exams to be held in September.
This year, more than 3 lakh students took the Class 10-12 exams conducted by the NIOS, an autonomous organisation under the ministry of human resource development. Offering open basic education, and academic and vocational courses for pre-degree level, NIOS is one of the three national school boards, the other two being CBSE and CISCE.
“Serious cases of impersonation and copying have come to light and are being probed. Major irregularities have been noticed. For example, students’ attendance were forged. There were some centres where only a few took the exam but the number of those who passed is more. All this is being probed. NIOS has taken it very seriously,” said an official.
Sources said impersonation took place in connivance with the accredited institutes of NIOS and examination centres, which are now being investigated. They added that the results had been initially declared but were withheld following a probe into complaints of impersonation.
BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh has been home to Vyapam scandal in the past. Large scale cases of underhand dealings for admission to medical colleges had hit the headlines in 2013.