Haryana Board exams: Toothless flying squad, helpless staff fail to stem cheating rot

ROHTAK: Lack of stern action against those caught copying in the Class X and Class XII board exams conducted by the Board of School Education, Haryana (BSEH) has emboldened other defaulters. Despite the state government’s promise to maintain exam sanctity, mass copying is being done with impunity.
Till date, BSEH flying squads have registered 1,154 Unfair Means cases involving Class X students and 723 involving Class XII students.The Board also relieved 80 teachers suspected of professional negligence or collusion with cheating students. These teachers were identified by flying squads during raids on examination centres.
In the course of 12 days, the paper was taken out of the examination centre nine times and uploaded on social media to aid “helpers” pass on “cheat slips” to students. On Monday, the flying squad confiscated 13 mobiles from different examination centres in Panipat from the possession of students taking the exam.
Helpless staff
Wazir Singh Ghanghas, former state president, Haryana Vidhayalya Adhyapak Sangh, said the cheating racket starts with the political appointment of HSEB chairperson. “Teachers on duty remain under the threat of getting beaten or harassed by outsiders who come to pass the cheat slips to examinees. If a teacher on duty tries to stop anyone from copying, they are bound to face dire consequences and the HSEB never stands with them”, said Ghanghas.
Years ago, he said, a woman teacher was murdered when she tried to stop an examinee, who turned out to be associated with a member of the chief minister’s staff, from cheating. Another teacher from Sonipat was run over for preventing cheating. He said teachers on duty are paid a paltry sum of Rs 100 for board exam duty and no one wants to take such a huge risk for this sum.
“As far as security is concerned, one police official is deployed to contain the crowd of hundreds outside the exam centre”, he pointed out. He also said police needs a written complaint to take action but no one wants to invite trouble.
Toothless flying squad
A senior teacher associated with the education department said the Board has set up flying squads in the name of senior officers, like DC flying, SDM flying etc to prevent outsider influence but senior officers send their clerical staff for raids. “Junior staff in these squads are not taken seriously and there is no deterrent around exam centers,” one of the staff members said.
Pvt school lobby
A section of private school management members give expensive gifts like gold chains or rings as well as cash to teachers on duty, including supervisors and superintendents, so that students of their school are given a free run. Considering that the punishment they face on getting caught is only to be relieved of exam duty, they do not have much to lose.
Board blames schools
HSEB secretary Rajiv Prasad said they are trying their best to curb the menace of cheating but lack of proper arrangements in schools is also responsible for the situation.
“The school walls are either not high enough to prevent the crowd from sneaking in or are demolished. School windows are broken or missing, making the exam centre vulnerable to such interventions”, he said.