How exam scandal affects India’s most competitive test

On a sweltering day in Delhi last week, Kavya Mukhija spent several hours taking an important government exam for entry-level teaching positions in Indian universities.

The 25-year-old freelance researcher and disability activist uses a wheelchair because she suffers from a rare congenital joint stiffness condition and finds exam centers difficult to access. The road outside is dug up and the steep ramp is not wheelchair accessible, and there are no wheelchairs in the center itself.

If all this wasn’t enough, an even more brutal shock awaited her.

Authorities canceled UGC-NET, as the exam is called, as her caregiver mother waited outside in the sweltering heat one day after taking the four-hour test, which had been taken by 900,000 candidates in more than 300 cities.

The Department of Education initially issued a vague statement, saying “the integrity of the exams may have been compromised”. A day later, minister Dharmendra Pradhan admitted that the question papers had been leaked on social media platform Telegram and the “dark web”.

“I felt very angry. It was like a double whammy for me. I didn’t think I had the energy to take this exam again,” Kavya told me.

Nearly 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away in the city of Patna, Archit Kumar faces a similar challenge.

In May this year, the 19-year-old aspiring doctor took part in a 200-minute nationwide government undergraduate exam in which 2.4 million aspiring candidates competed for more than 110,000 medical school seats.

A Scandal broke out soon after the exam – Four persons were arrested in Bihar for allegedly leaking question papers of the so-called National Eligibility and Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET-UG examination.

There were widespread accusations of cheating, with many candidates scoring suspiciously high scores. Aspirants report publicly Ignored by touts Hours before the exam, papers were demanding up to 3 million rupees ($35,918; £28,384). Some even used recorded calls as evidence.

Many students and parents are demanding retesting and numerous petitions have been filed in the courts for this purpose, which is being reviewed by the Supreme Court. Mr Pradhan ordered an investigation and acknowledged that “some errors that were limited to certain areas” had occurred. Destiny of millions of aspirants will not be kidnapped, he says ‘Some isolated incidents’.

None of this comforted Archie.

For the past two years, he has given up his social life – even avoiding seeing friends – and studied for up to 12 hours a day to prepare for one of the most competitive exams in the world. He eventually scored 620 out of 720 points and reached rank 53,000 in the All-India rankings.

“It’s shocking. There’s a lot of anxiety. I have a friend who is taking the test for the fifth time in a row this year. Imagine what he’s like. Imagine if we had to take a retest. I forget a lot of things,” Atchit said. explain.

India’s examination system is a mess. To be sure, cheating and leaked test papers have long plagued exams. But now, major exams administered by the state-run National Testing Agency (NTA), including the one taken by Kavya and Archit, appear to have been affected. In the past month, alleged leaks of test papers and tampering of scores in these exams have put the future of 3.5 million candidates at risk. Three other government-run public exams were canceled or postponed last week, affecting another 1.3 million candidates.

“Things have gotten worse. Mafia-like links between teachers, touts and exam center operators have created this situation.

Perry said touts often contact aspirants and demand payment for exam papers, sometimes even accepting postdated checks. In written exams, they will reveal the test papers to candidates in advance and provide solved answers for candidates to memorize. During online exams, touts collect candidates’ digital credentials to remotely access their computers and answer questions on their behalf.

The situation is even worse on state exams. In an economy where most jobs are informal, precarious and low-wage, papers for various local government recruitment exams are often leaked amid fierce competition for jobs.

Recruitment exams for police, foresters, engineers, veterinarians and income tax inspectors have been affected by information leaks in the past. The documents have been leaked on WhatsApp and stolen from storage rooms. The suspects hacked into the servers of a private company that handles the exams. In 2022, Delhi Police busted a major online cheating gang that helped candidates cheat in top-tier exams. they have Russian hackers hired to develop undetectable softwareallowing them to remotely hack into exam center computers.

Earlier this year, The Indian Express investigated a shocking incident 41 documented paper leaks Recruitment exams have been conducted in 15 states over the past five years under governments of all parties.

The investigation found that the information leak affected the schedules of approximately 14 million applicants vying for more than 100,000 positions. The situation is so bad that document leaks became a hot-button issue during recent elections in states such as Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana. Most of the country is now ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

2015, Boldest exam cheating scandal rocks VyapamIt is a government office in Madhya Pradesh that oversees more than 50 examinations for government jobs and local medical colleges.

Exam papers were leaked, answer sheets manipulated, impostors – themselves bright young students – hired to represent candidates, and seats sold to the highest bidder. Colluding teachers filled out incomplete forms, boosting grades.

“We have created an education system that encourages this type of fraud,” Mr. Perry said.

For one, there is a huge gap between student demand and seat supply, coupled with concerns about affordability.

This year, 2.4 million students are vying for 110,000 medical school places, underscoring the tremendous pressure and fierce competition. About 55,000-60,000 of these seats are in public universities and the remaining seats are in private institutions. Half of these seats are reserved for poor students.

Students prefer public universities because of their affordability – a five-year MBBS course in a public university costs between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, while private universities charge up to 10 times more.

Many believe that the main reason for this is India’s employment crisis. “This is very much a skills crisis,” economist Karthik Muralidharan points out in his new book, “Accelerating India’s Growth.” “Millions of educated youth are unemployed, while employers struggle to find sufficiently skilled people.”

The education system’s emphasis on cramming to pass exams has resulted in many students lacking an understanding of the subjects and practical skills that employers value. Muralidharan said that through upgrading skills and vocational education, India’s young people will be better served. He also stressed the need for reform of the examination system to measure not only students’ scores and rankings, but also their skills and knowledge.

The government has promised a rigorous investigation into the latest scandal, with Minister Pradhan taking “moral responsibility” for the students’ loss of confidence.

More needs to be done. It is unclear whether New anti-cheating laws It has always been a deterrent for government jobs and college entrance exams. Mr Perry questioned why authorities did not carry out basic “hygiene” checks when compiling exam results. He suggested that if six top scorers came from one exam centre, or if a student who had performed poorly in high school topped an undergraduate exam, authorities should investigate any irregularities.

“This would be a basic, good start,” he said.

But students seem to have little hope.

“We’ve lost faith in the exam system,” said Atchit. “We just don’t understand what’s going on.”