GPS to end mass copying in state

School education board to begin cleansing state of cheating-friendly exam centres in April

GPS to end mass copying in state

School education board to begin cleansing state of cheating-friendly exam centres in April

To put a full stop to the malpractice of cheating, especially mass copying, in board exams in the state, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) has decided to use the Global Positioning System (GPS) to identify centres where use of unfair means has become the norm. The idea is to pinpoint centres that show a high demand among schools even when there are other centres that are much closer.

According to officials, the state board has received complaints that there are certain exam centres which are known for being "cheating-friendly" and that schools prefer to send their students to such centres, especially in rural areas, so that they receive good grades.

Chairperson of MSBSHSE Ujjwaladevi Patil said the board would soon be carrying out an analysis of the exam centres with the help of GPS technology.

"There is this pattern we have noticed during board exams. We usually hold a meeting with schools and ask them which exam centre should be allotted to them as they are best placed to decide on the convenience of their students. Schools should ideally select exam centres that are closest to them as it not only means lesser travel time but also familiarity, but instead some schools are seen selecting centres that are in far-off areas," she said. "In some schools we have noticed this to be the pattern every year and, incidentally, these exam centres selected also turn out to be those where copying happens every year."

Patil added that a school skipping more convenient centres to deliberately select centres where use of unfair means had been observed year upon year was indication enough that the school wanted a copying haven for its students so that they could get good grades.

"In order to stop this process of 'jumping' exam centres, we are going to use GPS technology. We will conduct mapping of all schools and the respective nearest exam centres in the state," she said. "We will compare the distance from the school to the centre selected with the distance to the nearest exam centre, and if we find that schools have selected an exam centre that is inexplicably far off, then we will cancel the school's request and instead allot the nearest centre."

The board also plans to identify any surplus exam centres in this exercise; if a particular area has more exam centres than are required, then the centres that have a history of cheating taking place will be cancelled.
"We estimate about 1,000-1,500 exam centres are unnecessary and stop their functioning by next year," Patil said.

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