The president approved a new anti-cheating law for public exams

Description

On February 15, 2024, President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024, paving the Act for execution following its adoption by both houses of Parliament in the recently finished Budget session.

Public examinations are those conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, Staff Selection Commission, Railway Recruitment Board, National Testing Agency, and central government departments.

Unfair means include unauthorized access to or leakage of question papers or answer keys, aiding a candidate during a public examination, tampering with computer networks, staging phony exams, and issuing fake admit cards and offer letters.

Key Provision

Punishment for Cheating

• Students caught attempting to cheat in public exams administered by recognized testing bodies may face jail sentences ranging from six months to two years, as well as fines ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 5 lakh, under the new rule.

Ban from taking any tests

• Those found guilty of utilizing unfair examination procedures face a six-month or lifetime ban from taking any national or state level examination, depending on the degree of the ethical misconduct. This also covers professional course admission tests.

Applicability for Exam Officials and Coaches

• In addition to students, chief invigilators, independent representatives, paper setters, and solution providers face up to two years in prison and fines for facilitating cheating through the leak of question papers, answer keys, or other illegal collusions.

Authorized Test Conducting Entities

• The strict rule applies to all physical examinations administered by the National Testing Agency and other testing agencies conducting state and national level eligibility tests.

Addressing digital age grey areas

• The anti-cheating regulatory framework seeks to solve ethical misbehavior grey areas created by the spread of technologies such as spy cameras, earpieces, and online remote help, which enable large-scale leaks that undermine academic reputation.

Restricting Coaching Mafia Threats

• It also seeks to discourage the parallel cottage sector of coaching mafias that specialize in assisting cheating through imposters, solutions, or compromising processes in collusion with corrupt insiders.

Implementation Challenges

Include monitoring infrastructure and the need for overhaul

• While the Act provides substantial deterrence, experienced agencies have identified the need to dramatically expand monitoring infrastructure and protocols through surveillance analytics, data mining, biometrics, and forensics for effective nationwide implementation.

Concerns About Ambiguous Provisions

• Educational experts argue that key laws, such as imprisonment for minors and applicability to teachers, are confusing and require explanation, while also raising worries about the possibility of over-policing affecting student welfare.

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