THE ‘MAGIC’ PENS

CHEATING HAS reached such levels in Chhattisgarh that the Chhattisgarh Professional Examination Board (CPEB) has had to resort to all kinds of methods to stop malpractices in the PreMedical Test (PMT) conducted by it on June 28. The exposure of largescale malpractices had forced the board to cancel the PMT thrice last year.

Three kinds cheating have become common: leaking of question papers, impersonations in examinations and high-tech copying with use of scanner pens.

The scanner pens send the test questions to a computer that is monitored by a relative or acquaintance outside, who in turn relays the correct answers through wireless earphones.

While special squads of the Chhattisgarh police have been constituted to crack down on the impersonators and question-leak- ers, the CPEB has come up with a relatively simple new method to stop high-tech copying with the scanner pens this year. The controller of examination, Pradip Choubey, demonstrated the “magic” pen “invented” by the board to stop such type of copying before mediapersons at Raipur on the eve of the PMT on June 27.

“All the 20,622 candidates appearing for this year’s PMT will be prohibited from carrying their own pens to the exam hall. The board will supply each of them with this pen to write the test,” Mr Choubey announced, waving the “magic” pen in his hand.

When the media had a closer look at the pen, it turned out to be just an ordinary pen costing `1.

Whether the “magic” pen will end malpractices or whether dishonest students will find ways of smuggling their own pens into the exam hall remains to be seen.