Teachers join students to cheat in SSC exams

It was a field day for malpractices in Board exams on Monday as the number of cases booked against students crossed 100 in both Intermediate (112 cases) and SSC (101 cases) exams.

Shockingly, teachers who were appointed as invigilators vied with the students in resorting to malpractice: 63 invigilators, two chief superintendents and an assistant commissioner of exams were suspended.

As if this was not enough, a “rowdy sheeter” in Vijayawada along with four other persons posing as officials entered the exam centre and asked for the question papers. When the examination staff asked for their identity cards, they refused to show them. The police intervened and took them into custody.

“By suspending 64 invigilators and three officials, we want to send a strong message that malpractice in exams will not be tolerated. No one can make a mockery of public exams like the SSC which decide the future of lakhs of students,” said Ms Poonam Malakondaiah, commissioner and director of school education.

Ms Malakondaiah held a tele-conference with all the DEOs after the exams on Monday and issued instructions for greater vigilance.

Moreover, over 68,000 students remained absent on the first day of the SSC exams. Some SSC students complained that they could not appear for the exams because they did not have hall tickets; their schools held their hall tickets on some pretext or other. Others complained that they were not allowed into the centres because they were a few minutes late.

There was a goof-up in the Inter exams on Monday when the wrong question papers in physics and economics were distributed at the Koutala exam centre in Adilabad. Set-II papers were distributed instead of Set-I. The Board blamed a TV news channel saying it wrongly reported that Set-II papers had been selected in the draw by officials.

“We have suspended the chief superintendent and a departmental officer for negligence in discharging their duties,” said Mr G. Balaramaiah, secretary, BIE.