In Telangana, students were caught copying in large numbers. Putting students behind bars and withdrawal of affiliation of schools found encouraging mass copying are some of the stringent measures the Telangana education department is pushing to curb the malpractice ahead of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations.
Altogether 5.60 lakh students will write the Class 10 examinations in over 2,500 centres across the state, starting March 15.
Directorate of school education in recent guidelines directed all the district examiners, who will supervise the upcoming examinations, to enforce the Andhra Pradesh Education Act 1982 and the Andhra Pradesh Public Examinations Act, 1997.
The laws, enacted before bifurcation of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, have provisions for jail term ranging from three to seven years along with fine ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 1 lakh for indulging in malpractices in examinations individually or collectively.
The government’s move, however, drew criticism from various quarters. Supreme Court advocate Sravan Kumar, who deals with education rights, said it might not be proper to prosecute students and send them to jails, if they indulge in copying.
“They are all minors and sensitive. Instead of subjecting them to harassment, the officials should educate them and focus on improving the quality of education in schools,” he observed.
Director of school education G Kishan clarified that they would invoke the jail provision against erring students only in “extreme cases.”
“If a student is caught cheating in the examination, we don’t intend to send him or her to jail though we can do so as per the existing law. However, if the students resort to combined malpractices, then we shall invoke the provisions of the Act,” he said.
“Generally, whenever students are caught indulging in copying, they are debarred from writing further examinations or are rusticated in serious cases. But so far we have not prosecuted the students or filed cases against them,” Kishan added.
The school education department has also launched an extensive campaign in all schools highlighting its latest decision to file criminal cases against students and school managements indulging in malpractices.
“This would be a deterrent to all those resorting to malpractices,” the official said.
The decision of the Telangana government follows the direction given by the Hyderabad high court to strictly curb malpractices in school examinations.
Acting on a public interest litigation, a two-judge bench of the high court expressed disappointment over the steps taken by the government to effectively prevent malpractices in examinations.
The high court directed that the government install closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the examination halls so as to keep a vigil on the students.
“Out of nearly 2,500 examination centres, we have installed CCTV cameras in 400 centres till date. We told the court that we don’t have fund to immediately install CCTV cameras in the remaining centres,” Kishan said.