E-Paper
Panjab University looking to rein in cheating at far-off exam centres
To look into the issue, Panjab University vice-chancellor Renu Vig had constituted a committee under Savita Gupta of the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) as chairperson
The Panjab University (PU) syndicate will take up as many as 30 agendas, including mass cheating and mass copying in examination centres, especially in far-off areas, during a meeting scheduled to be held on Saturday.
The issue was first raised in the PU senate meeting organised on June 3. To look into the issue, PU vice-chancellor (V-C) Renu Vig constituted a committee under Savita Gupta of the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) as chairperson.
The minutes of their two meetings will come up before the syndicate now. The committee has recommended that every college and institute set up CCTV cameras in every room of the examination centre, and it will be the responsibility of the principal to ensure that all cameras are in working order before and during the examination. The CCTV recordings also have to be preserved for a period of six months.
The flying squad will also check CCTV recordings of the previous day while physically inspecting the examination centre on the day of the exam. Action will be taken against the staff as well as the chief coordinator and centre superintendent among others, who will neglect their duty.
In a first, the examination centre for all regular students of PU’s affiliated colleges is proposed to be changed to some other nearby examination centre by the university. Earlier, regular students would get the same college and as per officials this was leading to some favouritism. Every college will have to provide the number of students enrolled and the total capacity well in advance so that arrangements can be made.
As per officials, the changes are being made in some of the rural areas after a complaint of mass copying had come from one of the constituent colleges of PU. In the meeting of the committee, the implementation of these policies has been discussed and won’t pose a problem once cleared by the syndicate and the Senate.
The syndicate will also take up minutes of a committee set up to consider delegation of authority in case of PhD scholars to fasten the administrative process without compromising its quality. The committee has noted that there are over 3,600 research scholars in PU and they have proposed to spend the least time in doing administrative tasks. For things where the V-C was the existing approving authority delegated by the syndicate, it has been proposed that other officials, including the director of research and development cell (DRDC), controller of examinations (COE) and dean of university instruction (DUI), be made the approving authorities.
