AHMEDABAD: They were the
OMR (
optical mark recognition) 'ninja' - scoring 90 to 100% marks in multiple choice questions (MCQ). But when it came to descriptive answers, they suddenly channelled inner 'Pappu' - none could score more than five marks!
Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (
GSHSEB) has identified 452 such students from across the state who got majority of their marks through MCQs in class X examination conducted in March this year. The students' results were withheld as the officials called them to Gandhinagar for further test. The officials said that if the students failed in more than two examinations, they would not be allowed to take re-examination in July and would have to appear the next year.
"Some centres - Bhuvaladi in Ahmedabad, Kashipura near Chhota Udepur, Khoda, Dhandhal in Banaskantha, Morva Hadaf and Ghoghamba in Panchmahal, Munpur and Virpur in Mahisagar, Loej in Junagadh, Ranpur in
Botad district - were under
strict scrutiny over suspicion of mass copying," said a senior GSHSEB official.
To check whether their suspicion was true, the officials called upon students and tested their knowledge in the subjects such as English, Mathematics and Science. They were asked to perform addition, subtraction of three digit numbers and were asked to write spellings of their or their school's name. Some were also asked to calculate angle of a triangle.
Board officials said that they have initiated process to get
CCTV footages of the areas outside the examination hall to ascertain whether someone was dictating the answers to students. All the 452 students had discrepancies in marks for different subjects as well. A private agency would be hired to check the marks and ascertain whether the students have flunked in more than two subjects.
Representative Image