Uttar Pradesh police have registered an FIR against two fake candidates for taking the Social Science exam. Further from the same high school, two proxy examinees were also caught by the police. Across India, the Uttar Pradesh board examinations have often been in headlines for reports of cheating, rigging and other illegal activities. But this year, with strict surveillance and penalties in place, Uttar Pradesh police bursted several groups and associations indulging in cheating. In February, UP police grabbed 65 impersonators across the state. As reported by the news agency, IANS, 34 students have been booked for copying during the UP Board examination in February.

Board Secretary Divyakant Shukla revealed that around 50% of such impersonators were arrested by the UP Police from two areas. “A maximum number of solvers, known as ‘Munna Bhai’ in local parlance, have been caught in two districts of Ghazipur and Ballia, which accounts for around 50 percent of the total number of impersonators caught,” said the secretary. From among them, 18 such ‘Munna Bhais’ have been caught and sent to jail in Ghazipur, and 15 from Ballia.

Nine proxy candidates were arrested on the first day of the UP board examinations, five in Ghazipur and one each in Mathura, Jaunpur, Bulandshahr, and Lucknow. Notably, the Uttar Pradesh government issued stringent directives to prevent test fraud. Even on the first day of the UP Board test, about 4 lakh students withdrew. For a smooth and fair test administration, the state government assigned police as well as members of the local intelligence unit (LIU) and special task force (STF) of the state police.

For this year’s examination, the Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Siksha Parishad (UPMSP) imposed the National Security Act 1980 on students who were caught cheating in the Board exams. Teachers or instructors who are found engaging in exam-related malpractice could be punished by enacting the same act. CCTV monitors will be installed in every exam room to monitor students and their movements and prevent instances of cheating.

The Uttar Pradesh Education Board previously declared a change to the class 10 examination schedule. The pupils will now have to respond to questions worth a total of 70 marks, of which 50 will be descriptive and 20 objective.

Read all the Latest Education News here