Mass copying in Gujarat exams, nearly 1,000 ‘same mistakes’: Report

Two months after the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) declared the results, the officials have discovered shocking cases of mass copying that involves nearly 1,000 students. In the aftermath of the ‘ditto’ answer sheets, the officials have decided to put the 959 results on hold till 2020. According to the Times of India report, the officials were looking into the cheating complaints at the examination centres located in Junagadh and Gir-Somnath district. The TOI report said that the 959 students not only copied the answers, they also made the same mistakes!

The newspaper report said that over 200 students copied an entire essay. The officials scrutinising the answer sheets said that right from the beginning till end, the students wrote the essay in exact format. Mass copying was discovered in question papers in subjects such as Accountancy, Economics, Statistics and English Literature. Not just mass copying, there was another discrepancy in the answers of these students.

The TOI report said that most of these children claimed that they were ‘regular students’, whereas they had paid about Rs 35,000 to various ‘self-financed schools’ and studied there as external students attending classes for just two weeks.

The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSEB) declared Class 12 results in May earlier this year. This year, the declaration of the results sealed the fate of lakhs of students who had appeared for the examination. According to the latest reports, Anand district tops, Dang scores lowest among districts

This year, the Gujarat Board conducted the exams from March 7 to March 23.. In 2018, around 3 lakh students appeared for the exam and the overall pass percentage stood at 55.55%.

The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSEB) came into existence in May 1960 through an act of Gujarat Assembly. The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSEB) was entrusted with the responsibility to carve out the Secondary and Higher Secondary level specific curriculum, study material and to evaluate the students. It also conducts yearly examinations at the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and the Higher Secondary (School) Certificate (HSC). Apart from the secondary and higher secondary examinations, the Board conducts Engineering Entrance Examination (GUJCET).