Testing time for copycats: 3, 580 and counting

Updated on: Thursday, March 17, 2011

The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams are not over yet but the number of students caught cheating so far this year has almost touched 2010’s total.

While 1, 918 copycats were hauled up during the HSC exams held across Maharashtra in 2010, according to the data collated till March 14, this year’s figure has already crossed 1, 800. Similarly, the corresponding figures for SSC exams are 1, 878 and 1, 744 respectively.

However, board officials insist that it doesn’t mean that the number of students indulging in malpractices is on the rise. “We have increased vigilance, especially in smaller centres. As a result of the crackdown more and more cheaters are being caught,” said S Dhekane, secretary of the state board of education.

Dhekane also pointed to the fact that there were far more students appearing for HSC exams this year as compared to previous years. TOI had reported in February that the number of students appearing for both SSC and HSC exams had crossed the three lakh mark in Mumbai for the first time this year. In fact, the number of students appearing for HSC exams in the city in 2011 is 61 per cent higher than it was in 2006.

According to Fr Francis Swamy, principal of Andheri’s Holy Family School, who is also a member of the state board, the majority of cheating cases are being reported from smaller areas and not big cities like Mumbai.

“Most of the schools do not tell the students what the consequences of such acts can be. Very often, when I have made inquiries into instances of cheating, I found that students had no idea that if caught copying they would not only have to forgo the exam this year, but for the next three years too. Many said that had they known this, they would never have thought of cheating,’’ said Swamy, who is also part of the state board’s vigilance squad.

Testing time for copycats: 3, 580 and counting

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