Opinion Leaked papers and cheating scandals: How to fix India’s exams
As long as high premiums are attached to the exams, they are always vulnerable to hacking. One good way to disincentivise cheating is to reduce the importance of the examination itself. Can we make them — instead of being the basis for selection — just qualifying exams?
The Act covers examinations being conducted for recruitment by all the central government recruitment agencies and the National Testing Agency (NTA). (Representational Images) Even as Parliament was deliberating on the Public Examinations Prevention of Unfair Means Bill of 2024, the stage was being set for another question paper leak — in constable recruitment in Uttar Pradesh. Question paper leaks are not only clear proof of loopholes in the examination system, but they also create widespread frustration among the youth who worked relentlessly for the exam. The Public Examinations Prevention of Unfair Means Act (Act 1 of 2024), notified by the Centre on February 12, imposes severe penalties on persons resorting to unfair means, with punishments of imprisonment, not less than three years, whereas the service providers (who conduct the exam on behalf of the government) are liable for fines upto Rs 1 crore, apart from prison sentences.
The Act covers examinations being conducted for recruitment by all the central government recruitment agencies and the National Testing Agency (NTA). It covers not only job-selection exams but also major educational entrances like JEE/NEET.
The government’s intent is clear, but the question is: Are increased punishments for cheating the solution to the problem? Already many states — including Gujarat, Rajasthan, UP, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, AP and Odisha — have legislation that criminalises cheating. Notably, there have been no convictions so far under these Acts. So, crimes are being committed despite the laws and culprits have not been convicted in most cases.
The attributes of a good exam are: Reliability (should give the same result for the same type of performance), validity (measure what it intends to measure), objectivity (eliminates subjectivity in evaluation), clarity and comprehensiveness. The processes of the examination — setting the question paper, maintaining secrecy, organising the exam centre and evaluation/tabulation — have to be separately laid out and brought together using advanced IT systems. Unfortunately, many of these processes are compromised by exam-conducting authorities. Many unfair practices also go unnoticed and the culprits go scot-free.
So, when we argued for creating a professional exam-conducting body for a more scientific examination system, the government approved the formation of the NTA. The NTA is a beginning in the journey towards making conduct of exams more scientific, reliable and professional. This journey is long and needs continuous effort.
The challenges in conducting an examination have multiplied manifold with a very high premium attached to government jobs. For long, setting question papers and their printing and transport to examination centres, and transporting the completed answer (or OMR) sheets to the evaluation centres, have all been wrought with loopholes. None of these processes have ever been audited by any knowledgeable agency.
Moving exams online was thought to be a solution to paper-based exams since the risks of unfair practices associated with printing/distribution can be effectively curbed. However, it has given rise to new challenges. The authorities have started outsourcing the conduct of online exams to service providers who claim to have “fool-proof” technology, which is not adequately tested. There is inadequate knowledge or expertise in the government machinery to test the robustness of the IT systems being deployed. This leaves the system vulnerable to hackers and organised cyber criminals.
As long as high premiums are attached to the exams, they are always vulnerable to hacking. One good way to disincentivise cheating is to reduce the importance of the examination itself. Can we make them — instead of being the basis for selection — just qualifying exams? A good example is admissions into the best foreign universities, which take the qualifying exam scores as just one of the inputs. Even for job selection exams, it is possible to design systems that can build in weightage for academic and non-academic performances over a period of time, where the final exam is only one of the inputs. This is a time for innovation and for moving to more fool-proof systems that reduce the desperation to “somehow” crack the exam.
Organised cheating impinges on the lives of millions. The time has come for us to create a special investigation agency that has the power to investigate all types of examination offences and quickly bring culprits to justice. In the quest for fair and reliable exams, it is not fear but a robust foolproof and innovative system that is the key.
Subrahmanyam is former education secretary, Government of India. Moulick is a CRISP Fellow.
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