Picture this. Hundreds of young students and middle-aged parents marching down the roads in Hyderabad amidst the usual traffic chaos in protest. Several students and probably some mothers sobbing inconsolably asking the police for help. The hapless policemen trying to keep the mob under control and eventually arresting some innocent protesters to restore some semblance of order. All for a cancelled medical entrance examination where a cheating scam has been uncovered.
Sounds absurd, doesn’t it? In the 21st century especially? One would argue that technology today would not condone this kind of absurd drama from playing out on the streets. One would assume there are better ways of conducting examinations ensuring that cheating does not render the test pointless. That there would be checks and balances in place so that several thousand students — and parents in this case because in India, short of holding the pen, they virtually take these examinations with their children — are spared the pain of sitting for yet another high-pressure test to ensure their bright future.
Well, clearly not. This ridiculous scene actually played out in the capital city of Andhra Pradesh last month after the papers of the Eamcet-2 leaked from Kanpur’s Kapoor Printing Press which is apparently known for its high-security features.
When I first read the news report, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the absurdity of the situation. Students and parents asking Telangana policemen on the road not to cancel the test. The policemen stare blankly as they try to fathom what they are being asked to help with. Then there is Rajagopal Reddy, who has been arrested in two past scams — in 2007 and 2010 — and is out on bail but couldn’t resist a new scam. He has now been re-arrested in 2016. The mafia kingpin — Khaleel or Mohammad Khalid (it’s not clear from newspaper reports but it’s one and the same thing to my mind) — laughing Bollywood-style in his den in some dingy alley at the naivete of the sleuths with an enormous bag full of rupee notes that he throws up in the air delightedly.
If I hadn’t seen some children around me going through the preparation of such examinations, I would argue that such scams be allowed to continue on grounds of comic relief to the public. So what if it’s the 21st century? So what if technology in general is taking over the senses of people everywhere and rendering them slaves to it? Can’t we in India continue with some of our traditions — like taking examinations in our very own unique and pre-historic manner? Like cheating scams breaking out with unerring regularity?
But unfortunately taking such examinations in India is not a joke. Just outside where I live, there is one coaching institute that helps students prepare for such life and death tests. I see many young students already looking defeated on a daily basis. I have seen and talked to a large number of students who have sat for such examinations to know what they go through. Students who had done well on the Eamcet-2 crying inconsolably is something one can both imagine and empathise with.
Of course, we all know of the tragedy of JEE and Kota. There are now news reports that tests like Eamcet-2 will be replaced by NEET which to my mind is one bad idea replacing another. It’s like giving birth to a new JEE with more student lives at stake.
So my question — and unsolicited advice — to whoever designs and executes such tests is this. Have you heard of examinations like GMAT, SAT and GRE? Are you aware that these are taken year after year several times annually with virtually no such scams breaking out? There may be an odd exception but most students manage to sit for these without taking their own lives. It is possible to design similar tests to test medical or engineering aptitude or whatever you wish. It has been and can be done.
I know it will make things a bit boring but have you considered that we no longer need to keep printing papers and looking for stellar printing presses like Kapoor’s? The world has changed.
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper
