Chennai: Scrapping blueprint in board exams and improved awareness about punishment for malpractices have brought down the number of students involving in malpractices in plus two board exams from 152 last year to just 14 students this year.
Nearly 9 lakh candidates appeared for the plus two board exams that were concluded on Tuesday.
A maximum of four candidates caught during Chemistry and Accountancy exam. In English exam also only three candidates were found to be involved in copying.
“Districts like Cuddalore, Villupuram, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai used to have a high number of malpractices. But this year, Cuddalore district has recorded only one malpractice case which is very surprising,” officials from school education department said.
Some headmasters said scrapping blueprint has played a major role in bringing down the malpractices in board exams.
“With the blueprint, the students would know where the questions would come from. So, they would write the answers and bring them to exam halls. Without the blueprint, students were not sure where the questions would be asked. It could have prevented them from carrying notes or papers to exam halls,” said G.J.Manohar, the headmaster of MCC Higher Secondary School in Chetpet.
However, the instances of copying from other candidates also not widely reported this year.
“The directorate of government examinations (DGE) has issued circulars to schools highlighting the punishment for the exam related offences this year. All the schools were repeatedly read out the punishments for exam-related offences during prayer meetings. It might have created awareness among the students,” said N.Vijayan, founder and principal of Zion Matric Higher Secondary School in Tambaram.
In the circular, DGE warned the students that if a candidate was found guilty of copying and attempting to copy from forbidden papers they would be debarred for next two examinations.
It also said the copying from another candidate will attract cancellation of performance and debarment for more than one year. Further, the directorate also put restrictions on employing private school teachers for exam-related work.
“We have given instructions that if any student found possessing materials like printed books, notes or manuscripts by the flying squad members, then action will be taken against hall supervisors. It has put the hall supervisors on extra vigilant this year,” says D.Vasundradevi, director of government examinations.
Sources in the directorate also pointed out that after the introduction of NEET based admission for MBBS and BDS courses, the private schools stopped indulging in mass copying or other violations.
“There is not a single case recorded against private schools in the last couple of years following the Neet based medical admissions,” they said.
Earlier, the private schools used to employ several methods including circulating question papers with marked answers or long erasers with answers to students. Some schools even allow the students to write unanswered questions at chief superintendent rooms.
