India arrests 300 people over blatant cheating in school exams

People were seen scaling buildings to help students cheat; some folded answer sheets into paper planes

More than 300 people were arrested on Saturday in the Indian state of Bihar after photographs and video showed widespread cheating in school exams.

The arrests came a day after chief minister Nitish Kumar ordered the respective districts administrations to crack down. "I have ordered the administration to ensure there was no cheating in the continuing matriculation examination," he said while addressing the media.

Many students smuggled in textbooks and notes into examination centres despite tight security -- and parents and friends were photographed scaling the walls of test centres to pass on answers to students during the current secondary school examinations.



PHOTO COURTESY: THE HINDUSTAN TIMES

Some of the men folded the answer sheets into paper planes and flew the missiles directly to the cheating students.

Read: Parents in Bihar climb buildings to help students cheat in board exams

The examinations, held by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), began on March 17 and are scheduled to go on until 24 March. Officials say more than 1.4 million students are taking the tests.



PHOTO COURTESY: DIPANKAR

Kumar's order to ensure cheating-free matriculation examination had its impact on Saturday, with the police arresting hundreds of persons from outside examination centres.

Additional director general of police Gupteshwar Pandey said over 300 persons, including parents and relatives, were arrested from different exam centres.

Additional police personnel were also deployed in Vaishali and Nawada for conduct of fair examination.

Vaishali has gained notoriety in the last couple of days for mass scale use of unfair means in matriculation examination.



PHOTO COURTESY: DIPANKAR

The exams were cancelled in two centres in Mahnar in Vaishali district and in two other centres in Saharsa and Nawada districts on Friday after visuals of mass-scale cheating went viral.

The article originally appeared in The Hindustan Times