Chennai: Two All India exams held in the past six months portray a stark contrast to measures adopted by our authorities in curbing malpractice in high stake examinations. While teenagers fresh out of school were put through security like those in airports, Monday's incident of a trainee IPS officer sneaking in high-end gadgets into the exam hall during the UPSC mains examination is only reminiscent of the security at our railway stations.
In May, when students took the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Neet), officials on duty used metal detectors to frisk students, sleeves were cut, students were asked to remove footwear, at a centre in Kerala, officials even asked a girl student to remove her bra, an act which was condemned widely.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which conducts the Neet examinations, while apologising to the student maintained that stringent dress codes were to 'secure the sanctity' of the examination.
Cut to October and another high stakes examination, IPS trainee Safeer Karim managed to enter the exam hall in Egmore with his gadgets, bypassing the personnel of the city police who were on security detail.
Aspirants who had attended the mains exam earlier told Deccan Chronicle that while police personnel are posted outside the exam halls, frisking and stringent checks are not usually done.
"It is only from this year that I heard that frisking was done before exams. Usually, aspirants are orally instructed to leave behind mobile phones or wallets and most of them don't try to cheat in the UPSC exams," P. Vimal Sankar who appeared for the exams thrice told Deccan Chronicle.
Were the city police lax in checking the candidates who aspire to become the cream of bureaucracy in the country? A senior police officer said that there are no provisional instructions from UPSC to frisk or check candidates who appear for mains examinations and flying squads inspect the candidates in the exam halls.
