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UP university debars over 9,000 students for a year for ‘mass copying’
PRSU in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj division has debarred 9,849 final-year students of various undergraduate courses from appearing in examinations for a year after they were allegedly found guilty of mass copying during the 2021-22 annual exams held in May-June this year, university officials said on Friday.
Prof Rajendra Singh (Rajju Bhaiya) University (PRSU) in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj division has debarred 9,849 final-year students of various undergraduate courses from appearing in examinations for a year after they were allegedly found guilty of mass copying during the 2021-22 annual exams held in May-June this year, university officials said on Friday.
A decision was taken in a meeting of the examination committee of PRSU on Thursday, they added.
PRSU vice chancellor Akhilesh Kumar Singh said the university administration has found 201 final-year students of Bachelor of Commerce (BCom), 1,075 of Bachelor of Arts (BA) third year and 8,573 students of Bachelor of Science (BSc) final year guilty of mass copying in the 2021-22 annual examinations.
“All these students have been debarred from appearing in the examinations for one year,” Singh said.
University officials said the action has been taken in line with the objectives to ensure ideal academic environment and conduct of examinations in a free and fair manner. “The action has been taken under the policy of zero tolerance towards copying,” one of the officials said, requesting anonymity.
This is the first time that PRSU has initiated action against such a large number of students for using unfair mans in the exams. The university’s committee for unfair means considered cases of all those students suspected of copying and after seeking replies of the examiners, recommended action against them.
“The university’s examination committee then took the action,” said Avinash Kumar Srivastava, public relations officer, PRSU.
He said the number of students debarred could increase in coming days.
“The evaluation work of BA, BSc and BCom first and second year examinations is still going on,” said Srivastava. “Action will be taken against any student found guilty of indulging in mass copying and using unfair means.”
The PRSU administration conducted surprise inspections in the university and affiliated colleges during various semester examinations through CCTV, state-of-the-art technology-equipped surveillance rooms and flying squads, officials said.
No university in Prayagraj region has taken action against students for mass cheating on this scale earlier.
Allahabad University, which is the oldest varsity in the region, is non-affiliating — it does not grant affiliation to new or old colleges — whereas PRSU has been set up as an affiliating university for the colleges of Prayagraj division comprising Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Pratapgarh and Fatehpur districts.
PRSU, formerly known as Allahabad State University, was set up in 2016 and is among the newest state varsities of Uttar Pradesh. Of the 653 colleges affiliated to it, 339 are in Prayagraj, 75 in Kaushambi, 76 in Fatehpur and 163 in Pratapgarh district. Around 418,000 students are currently enrolled in the university and colleges affiliated to it.
