Indian college cut women’s sleeves before exam to prevent cheating

INDIA - Indian students taking an exam. Protests erupted after students’ sleeves were cut off before exams in Muzaffarpur.

An Indian college has been banned from conducting exams after its staff cut the sleeves of women taking nursing tests to prevent cheating, officials said yesterday. A video aired on Indian TV showed staff at the school using scissors and razor blades to slash the women’s sleeves before allowing them into the exam building. Many of the women can be seen carrying the cut-off sleeves into the exam hall as dozens of police stand guard outside in the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar state. The act led to protests outside other exam centres and a torrent of complaints on social media. District education officer Lalan Prasad Singh said the sleeves were cut to protect the candidates, but added that an inquiry had been launched to identify who was responsible. “The school has been barred from holding exams,” he told reporters when confronted over the outcry.

Reports of mass cheating regularly make headlines in the eastern state. Nearly 1,000 students were expelled by the Bihar state government in February for cheating in school exams. In February 2016, army candidates sat in their underwear to take a written exam during a recruitment day in Muzaffarpur. Authorities have already barred students from wearing shoes in exams, to make it more difficult to smuggle in paper. (The Guardian)