Bengal schools plot internet blackout to foil exam cheats

INDIAN authorities are jamming the internet connection near schools in a clampdown on exam cheats.

Officials in West Bengal said the move was in response to pictures of exam papers appearing on social media and being shared on Whatsapp.

Students in India began their GCSE exam equivalent yesterday. More than 11million pupils will take the class 10 or Madhyamik exams between now and March 16.

The signal jammers are being used to prevent exam papers being leaked and also to prevent pupils from accessing their devices during the tests. Even examiners are banned from taking their phones into tests, the president of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education board said.

The government has introduced other measures including restricting candidates from going to the lavatory in the first hour and 15 minutes of an exam and putting the examination centres under CCTV surveillance.

“We are well prepared to conduct the exams. We have been holding exams from 1991 onwards in all the schools across the state,” said Kalyanmoy Ganguly, the education board president.

Question papers are sealed and are being kept in strong rooms at police stations. They will be handed over to examiners minutes before the examination starts. Security forces will also be deployed to examination centres to prevent relatives of students passing answers to them from outside.

“I have the keys of all the strongrooms

‘I have the keys of all the strongrooms and they have been sealed ... they are under constant supervision’

and they have been sealed as of now. They are under constant supervision and guarded,” an official said.

Cheating on exams is endemic and organised in India where competition for jobs and higher education places is fierce.

In October, authorities in the Indian state of Rajasthan suspended mobile internet services, bulk SMS, MMS and all social media services during examination hours to prevent cheating.