Business as usual for UP’S copying mafia
Reports suggest that measures taken to curb the menace of cheating have proved ineffective in dissuading the well entrenched copying cartels active in the state
It is business as usual in the examination centres across Uttar Pradesh’s Kaushambi district, notorious for mass copying and vending fake certificates.
The malpractice, which is also rampant in other parts of the state, became a major issue during the recently concluded assembly elections, with the BJP making it a poll plank against then ruling Samajwadi Party.
None other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi raked up the issue, a fortnight ahead of the board exams, at a poll rally in Gonda, accusing the then ruling dispensation of patronising ‘copying mafia,’ thus playing with the future of the youth of the state.
As the exams get underway, barely weeks after a Bjp-government led by Yogi Adityanath is installed in the state, the ‘copying mafias’ are back in full force, undeterred by the change of guard in Lucknow.
There are reports of unabated use of unfair means in all the 112 examination centres across Kaushambi, where around 43,000 candidates are appearing for high school and intermediate examinations conducted by the Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad, commonly referred as the UP board.
Only five students have been booked so far for cheating and three centres have been debarred from holding the tests since the commencement of examinations on March 16.
Similar reports of copying were also received from centres in Aligarh, Pratapgarh, Mathura, Ghazipur, Ballia and Jaunpur among others, despite the board’s claim of taking a slew of measures to curb the menace.
The board, with an aim to check use of unfair means, provided coded answer sheets to 31 identified sensitive districts.
These include Aligarh, Agra, Mathura, Hathras, Etah, Mainpuri, Firozabad, Kasganj, Shahjahanpur, Badayaun, Moradabad, Sambhal, Allahabad, Kaushambi, Hardoi, Kanpur Nagar, Kanpur Dehat, Fatehpur, Chitrakoot, Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Ballia, Deoria, Jaunpur, Gonda, Ambedkarnagar, Sultanpur, Bhadohi, Santkabirnagar, Sidharthnagar and Kushinagar.
It also introduced online registration in Class 9 and 11 from 2015-16 in an effort to crack down on cheating.
Officials said the move helped them weed out fake registration of students by copying mafia.
The board also uploaded the list of examination centres on its website to ensure transparency in functioning.
Besides, it issued orders for a ban on carrying smartphones inside examination centres.
The ban is applicable not just on students, but also invigilators and centre superintendents.
UP board secretary Shail Yadav issued orders to district inspector of schools of all 75 districts to ensure that invigilators hand over their smartphones to centre superintendents before commencement of the exam.
The measures, however, proved ineffective in dissuading the well entrenched copying cartels active in many districts, as the reports of mass copying pouring in from various centres suggest.
The board officials termed these reports as “stray incidents”, insisting the measures taken by them have put a check on the use of unfair means this year.
To buttress the claim, Komal Yadav, district inspector of schools (Allahabad), pointed out that within 10 days of the commencement of the twin examinations, over five lakh students did not turn up to take the test.
Indicating that these students have skipped the examinations realising they won’t be able to cheat, Yadav claimed non-attendance of such a large number of examinees is a manifestation of the success of the measures.
“Strict measures implemented by the UP board this year have put an effective check on the use of unfair means in the ongoing high school and intermediate examinations,” Yadav said.
However, reports of mass copying emanating from various centres tell a different tale.
Sources in the office of the District Inspector of Schools (DIOS) in Kaushambi said Ajhua, otherwise a nondescript town in Kaushambi, has turned into a ‘Nakal ki Mandi’ (market of copying).
Every examination centre here is “prepaid,” and people from far off places, including Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, besides others districts of Uttar Pradesh, throng the town to get a high school or intermediate degree without actually toiling for it.
Notwithstanding the measures taken by the board, this thriving business of fake degrees continues to be active even this year, sources in the DIOS admitted.
After Kaushambi was carved out of Allahabad as a separate district in 1994 by the then chief minister Mayawati, it gradually turned into a “copying hub” due to lack of facilities to hold cheatingfree examinations, said Mohd Shahid, gram pradhan of Pashchim Sharira village of the district.
“Nearly half of the around 1000 schools under the UP board in the district exist only on record. No classes are held there. They are just used as centres for holding the high school and intermediate examinations every year,” he added.
As copying mafias continue to rule the roost at numerous centres across the state, students who put in hard labour to prepare for the examinations feel cheated.
“Unscrupulous students manage to get more marks, outperforming honest and hardworking students like us by copying word by word question papers unfairly solved by experts,” rued Himanshi Pandey, a Class 12 student of Allahabad Inter College.
Shivani Tiwari, another Class 12 student, said, “I have prepared well for the examinations and hope to get good marks. But steps are needed to fully and effectively check copying in UP board examinations.”
She added, “The report of mass copying not only tarnishes the image of the board nationally and demoralises honest students, but also affects their higher education opportunities. Many believe that all those who score high marks in UP board exams do so dishonestly.”
Staring at an uncertain future, hundreds of honest students like Himanshi and Shivani want an end to the farce that has been staged annually at many centres across the state in the name of examinations.