Cheating mafia: UP Board to summon random copies from sensitive districts to control copying

The Uttar Pradesh Board of Secondary Education has decided to randomly summon answer sheets from districts infamous for mass copying and get it checked by experts in Allahabad.

The step will help in the assessment of students of these districts and also detect foul play by copying mafia. It will also help the Board officials to get a benchmark of average marks for certain districts and minimise the possibility of over marking or biased evaluation by examiners.

Coded copies in 31 districts

The UP Board has also been issuing coded answer sheets for the last few years to check replacement of the Board’s answer sheets with pre-written copies.

Earlier, the Board used to issue coded answer sheets for less than a dozen districts but widened the ambit last year by covering 31 sensitive districts.

Coded copies are being used in Aligarh, Agra, Mathura, Hathras, Etah, Mainpuri, Firozabad, Kasganj, Allahabad, Kaushambi, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur City, Chitrakoot, Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Ballia, Jaunpur, Gonda, Sultanpur, Sambhal, Hardoi and Bhadohi, among others.

After deciding to get the copies of students scoring over 90 per cent in Board examinations re-evaluated by senior examiners, this is another attempt by the Board to rein in copying mafia.

Many schools also try to illegally secure higher marks for some of its students to ensure their names on the merit list as the overall good result attract more students for admission.

The evaluation process of the UP Board — one of biggest examination bodies of the world in terms of examinees — is set to kick off at 253 evaluation centres from April 27.

The board is likely to complete the task within 15 days and initiate the process of compilation of results.

During the evaluation process, the Board will summon unchecked answer sheets from sensitive districts and get it evaluated by specially-appointed examiners at the Government Inter College, Allahabad.

The Board will specially focus on Barabanki district which has been producing toppers for the last few years. Other districts like Kaushambi and Ghazipur will also be under the scanner as copying mafia is active here.

Secretary, UP Board, Shail Yadav, said: “We have decided to get copies selected randomly from some districts and get then evaluated by our examiners. This is a part of our efforts to ensure fair examination and evaluation of answer sheets.”