Rank difference: Not much malpractice in plus-2 exams

Chennai: Following the abolition of state ranks, private schools in western districts have largely stayed away from indulging in malpractices as no school was found to be involved in such practices so far in the plus-2 exams this year.

To make sure their students secure top ranks in the board exams, some of the private schools in districts like Erode, Namakkal and Krishnagiri used to employ innovative methods like circulate question papers with marked answers or circulating long erasers which will have correct answers written on them to students.  Some schools even allow the students to write unanswered questions at chief superintendent rooms.

In some instances, these schools have used their clout to influence the district education officials to post favourable headmasters and teachers in their schools for exam duty. “Compared to last year, the number of reported cases of malpractice has drastically come down. Plus 2 students have completed two important exams - physics and maths in the last two weeks. Still not a single private school has been reported for malpractices,” sources said.

Sources attributed the change of attitude in private schools to two reasons - abolition of state ranks and Neet based admission to medical courses.

To prevent the influence of schools, the directorate government examinations has split the major exam centres into two and deputed more exam officials. “The district education officials have followed lot system in allotting the exam centres to teachers and headmasters to rule out any influence from the schools,” sources said adding that the PG teachers and BT (graduate teachers) teachers were given priority while allotting the exam duties.

A few years ago, three teachers on the exam duty were caught red-handed after they had taken photographs of question paper in their mobile phones and sent it to other teachers through WhatsApp to get theanswers in Krishnagiri district. The inquiry by the department has revealed that most of the teachers in the school were special teachers and they were particularly deployed for that school.
Following the incident, the exam centre awarded to the school was temporarily cancelled. N.Vijayan, founder and principal of Zion Matriculation Higher Secondary School, said, “Abolition of ranks in some way has taken away the competitiveness among the schools. So, the malpractices in exams have come down this year.” Explaining some of the steps taken by the directorate of government examinations (DGE) to ensure the fairness in conducting the examinations he said, “The DGE has split the large schools in to two or three wings and appointed different chief superintendent and invigilators to monitor the exams. It has ensured better control in conducting the exams.”

Educationist Prince Gajendrababu said it is too early to comment on the examinations which is not yet over. But he urged the DGE to release the details on the actions taken against the schools which were found to be involved in the malpractices in the past.

However, the number of candidates reported indulging in malpractices is more or less same compared to last year.