Cheating continues unabated in BIEK annual exams

Education minister takes notice of cheating via Whatsapp groups

KARACHI: A week after the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi's (BIEK) annual examinations 2017 commenced, reports of papers being distributed before the allotted time, cheating at examination centres and cheating through Whatsapp groups are being circulated on various forums.

Taking notice of cheating in the annual examinations getting out of the board's control, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah asked Education Minister Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar to initiate an inquiry and direct officials to curb the menace.

The minister held a meeting with BIEK Chairperson Inam Ahmed, Colleges Director-General (DG) Nasir Ansar and Schools Karachi Director Dr Riaz Ahmed Siddiqui.



Dahar directed the chairperson and DG to contain the ongoing cheating in examinations at all costs and take drastic measures to counter this menace that is destroying our future generations.

The minister expressed dissatisfaction over the cheating and directed the officers concerned to take immediate steps to eradicate cheating culture in examinations and not to allow anyone to bring mobile phones in the examinations centres.

He also asked them to compile a list of 'sensitive' centres so that more vigilance teams could be sent there to control the situation. Dahar also suggested forming more teams to monitor the situation and seeking the help of local police to handle miscreants at examination centres.



Meanwhile, the BIEK chairperson told The Express Tribune that they already have more than 60 teams working in two shifts for vigilance and the board official himself has conducted raids and surprise visits at centres. "We have caught around 70 students cheating in the first week of the annual exams," he said.

Ahmed also said that students are not allowed to take their mobile phones with them in the centres while at many colleges invigilators ask students to switch off their phones and submit them to the school. The phones are returned after the paper.

Speaking about how technology is being used to cheat and the existence of 'cheating groups' on Whatsapp, he said the board is responsible for the use of mobile phones within the centres but cannot control what people outside centres send. Ahmed also complained that despite several letters to the police, no security has been provided to the centre officials.



Commenting on how the questions papers are released on Whatsapp groups before the exams start, the chairperson said that the question paper s leave the board office at 7am to be delivered at the 118 centres all over the city. The papers reach examination centres between 9am and 9:15am and the paper is usually on Whatsapp groups before 9:30am, when the morning papers start.

"Once the paper reaches the centre, it is opened and students are in the exam halls," he said, adding that when students are caught cheating, the case goes to the board and the team constituted to deal with cheating cases decides their punishment according to the type of cheating. Students can be suspended for a few years and the examination papers can also be cancelled, according to the board's rules.

He also said that they are forwarding the case of cheating via Whatsapp to the Federal Investigation Agency and cybercrime division for investigation.