Digital push, control room: How mass copying was checked in UP Board exams

LUCKNOW: With over 51.9 lakh registration, the UP board 2022 examinations were conducted in 1.1 lakh classrooms in 8,373 centres from March 24 till April 12. From setting up a hi-tech monitoring cell and control room to round the clock deployment of police personnel at the examination centres, a slew of measures was taken to crackdown on people who facilitate mass cheating.
The state-level control room is set up for CCTV surveillance and is connected to all district control rooms to monitor voice recordings of nearly 2.9 lakh CCTV cameras installed at 8,373 examination centres in 75 districts. Over 2.7 lakh invigilators were put on duty for the world’s biggest examination. In addition, 495 flying squads were pressed into service to curb the cheating menace.
This year, the exams were given a digital push. The UP Secondary Education Board (UPSEB) first had fixed duties of invigilators online and recorded their attendance on a real-time basis. All invigilators and staff were issued online unique identity cards, a move aimed at curbing proxy teachers.
The question papers that were kept in the double-lock almirah in the strong room were opened in the presence of centre superintendent, external superintendent and static magistrate.
Question papers were protected with tamper-evident envelopes. Post the English paper leak in Ballia district, the government ensured entry of each visitor to the strong room through a log book.
The paper leak resulted in the arrest of 99 persons and lodging of FIR against five persons. As many as six persons including the district inspector of schools, Ballia was suspended. The exam was rescheduled in 24 districts on April 13.
In all, the UPSEB identified 254 centres as ‘highly-sensitive’ and 861 centres as ‘sensitive’ and vulnerable for cheating. The UP Board had introduced coloured answer copies to prevent their exchange among students. While the Class 10 answer copies were black and blue, Class 12 were red and green.