The Supreme Court’s scathing comments on 2015’s All-India Pre-Medical Test may not be enough to shame the cheats, who will possibly try to squeeze every advantage out of the system’s weakness. They won’t hesitate to act in league with mercenary elements to take pecuniary advantage out of a competitive situation. To cheats it just doesn’t matter that the whole system is being corrupted by a microscopic few who even wear vests with embedded SIM cards and use Bluetooth to access WhatsApp and transmit questions outside so that the correct answers can be relayed back into the exam hall.
The levels of cheating in the modern era pose a huge challenge; the authorities must devise new ways to stop the charlatans becoming doctors in the future, endangering the lives of people. Not only that, for merit to emerge in any competitive exam, besides the proactive reservations a society must make for more backward and disadvantaged sections, there must be a level playing field. For that, the exam system too must arm itself with counterintelligence measures like jammers and other sophisticated electronic surveillance tools.
The CBSE must now conduct a fair test nationwide for over 600,000 young candidates raring to get on with life and their chosen career. Whatever the logistical problems, it’s up to the board to ensure that intending cheats get no advantage. It might help if the system can find a way to punish those who attempt shortcuts by keeping them out permanently from crucial areas of study like medicine.
