Postgraduate medical and dental students as well as those enrolled in allied health science courses may no longer find it easy to get away with cheating during examinations. From May 2019, the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) will be watching them closely as it has decided to ask affiliated colleges to livestream exams online.
The university has decided to initiate this step after several officials pointed out that malpractice was rampant, often in connivance with college managements.
M.K. Ramesh, Registrar (Evaluation) of the university, said that although they had made it mandatory to install CCTV cameras at exam centres, the records were not being checked. “If we get any complaint of malpractice, there is no way for us to verify it as the college either claims the cameras were not working or would have switched them off at the time. We often get complaints a fortnight after the exam is conducted, and the colleges are not able to give us the footage,” he said.
Greater accountability
The web-streaming mechanism will bring more accountability into the system. Colleges will have to stream the exam online using CCTV. “A dedicated team will sit in the university’s headquarters in Bengaluru and continuously monitor the situation. If it does not receive footage of a particular examination centre, our flying squads will be sent to the college to check for malpractices,” Prof. Ramesh said.
These measures will be in force for the May 2019 postgraduate exams. Colleges will have to preserve the footage for at least six months after the exam is completed. A circular is to be sent to all the colleges soon.
In the past, the RGUHS has found that students use Bluetooth devices to get answers read out by their friends and relatives. Some have also been involved in tampering of answer scripts.
The move has been welcomed by students and faculty members. “Merely installing CCTV cameras is of no use. Web streaming of answer scripts will certainly curb malpractices and will ensure that students who have worked hard can write the exam without any disturbance,” said Soujanya S., an MBBS student.