In bizarre way to stop cheating, Indian students forced to wear cartons on their heads

Images go viral on social media, drawing the ire of users

Students at a private college in India's Karnataka were made to wear cartons during an exam to stop them from cheating.

According to NDTV, images of students of Bhagat Pre-University College in Haveri, about 330 km from the state capital Bengaluru, began doing the rounds on social media where they are seen sitting in a classroom, wearing cardboard boxes.

The students were writing papers as part of their mid-term exams while invigilators can be seen monitoring them.

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The institute has drawn flak with many questioning if the measure could really be a deterrent.

Yesterday, Karnataka Education Minister Suresh Kumar reacted to the images saying that the incident was "totally unacceptable".

"This is totally unacceptable. Nobody has any right to treat anybody more so students like animals. This perversion will be dealt with aptly," he tweeted.

This is totally unacceptable. Nobody has any right to treat anybody more so students like animals. This pervertion will be dealt with aptly. https://t.co/y69J0XcTA6

— S.Suresh Kumar (Modi ka Parivar) (@nimmasuresh) October 18, 2019

Many on social media echoed the views of the state education minister.

"This is ridiculous and humiliating for the students. Yes, cheating is a problem, but this is not the way to solve it. Whoever approved this should be reprimanded," wrote a user.

https://twitter.com/BalKrishna_95/status/1185240759986900992

Justifying the action, college head MB Satish told reporters that a college in Bihar had used a similar method to curb cheating during exams and was widely appreciated on social media.

"We tried to do this for the betterment of students. We don't want students' mind to be diverted... the front side of the boxes was open. This was our new experiment. We have received both positive and negative feedback," he said.

A senior officer of the Deputy Director of Public Instruction said that an inquiry has been ordered into the incident, which happened on October 16.

"I had personally visited the college while the exam was going on and I made them remove those cardboard head covers and have not only served notice to the college but have asked the director education to  inquire. We will take action once the inquiry is completed," the officer said.