651 students caught cheating in BISE, Mirpurkhas exams

120 impersonators, 42 teachers also removed for abetting students

HYDERABAD: The Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Mirpurkhas caught and booked around 1% of 62,000 students who appeared in the recently concluded Secondary School Certificate Exams for cheating. BISE Mirpurkhas's Chairperson Barkat Ali Hyderi told the media on Friday that 651 students and 120 impersonators have been caught.



He said this year the board has upped the ante against teachers who connived in the cheating with the removal of 42 teachers, including invigilators and externals, from exam duties. The cases of the impersonators were referred to the disciplinary committee, which will ban the students from appearing in the exams for one or more years if they are proven guilty of collusion with the fake candidates.

"Cheating [in exams] is an inveterate practice. But our measures have shown a decrease in the copy culture. Yet a lot more needs to be done," he observed, emphasising that schools, parents and society as a whole need to work in tandem to discourage this practice.

The Mirpurkhas board's jurisdiction also covers Tharparkar, Umerkot and Sanghar districts. The board constituted 24 vigilance teams to monitor the exams in the four districts.



The students caught cheating and the teachers who have been removed for their alleged complicity are often found grumbling about what they describe as ‘play-acting’ rather than honest steps to curb cheating. "The board officials just want to pretend that they are not involved in deliberately allowing the copy culture to continue for certain reasons. They target the teachers who lack connections with or influence over the officials," a teacher who was removed from his duty in the recently concluded exams argued while talking to The Express Tribune.