"Test solvers" were caught writing answers for students of the Uttar Pradesh board
A school clerk was found using his house as an exam centre of the Uttar Pradesh board to help students cheat in the Class 12 test, the police in the eastern Uttar Pradesh district of Deoria have said. A team of "test solvers" worked on stamped answer sheets, which would be later added to the answer sheets of students, the police said.
A raid at the clerk's home, which is just metres away from the private school where he works, unearthed several stamped answer sheets. They are stamped as a security feature to prevent cheating.
When the policemen entered the clerk's home in a surprise raid, the "answer solvers" were seen writing on the sheets with question papers placed next to them.
Eleven people have been arrested, while the clerk is on the run.
A video taken by the police shows an inspector asking boys and girls present at the clerk's home what they were doing and why they were in the house. One of the girls can be heard saying, "We are solving exam papers."
A raid by the police at the school also found that stamped answer sheets had been handed out to many students. The police said the answer sheets would have been replaced by the ones at the clerk's home later.
The police said they are in the process of identifying other school employees involved. At least two students who allegedly paid for their test papers to be solved at the clerk's home have been identified, the police said.
At least 56 lakh students are taking the UP board's Class 10 and Class 12 exams. The state government has set up a monitoring unit and the exam centres have CCTV camera coverage.
Last month, a school principal in UP was arrested after he was caught on camera giving tips to students on cheating in board exams.
The Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Board (UPSEB) has identified 938 centres as "sensitive" and 395 as "hyper-sensitive", suggesting that these centres are vulnerable to such practices.
In a first, the state government has also launched a Twitter handle for immediate resolution of complaints and queries. In addition, helpline numbers for the control room, e-mail id and toll free numbers can be used to register complaints of anything related to the board examination.