West Bengal Higher Secondary Examination - cheats go click, click

West Bengal Higher secondary examinees in Birbhum allegedly took pictures of their question papers on cellphones and sent the images via email or WhatsApp to relatives and friends who sent back answers the same way.

Students writing their Bengali paper on the first day of higher secondary exams today resorted to rampant cheating at Rampurhat High School. Fifteen minutes into the exam that started at 10am, this correspondent saw printouts of the question paper being circulated among people outside the test centre.

Asked how the papers found their way out, a youth ran away, saying he had "managed" to get them. A search by the subdivisional officer resulted in at least 62 cellphones being fished out of shoes, socks and trouser pockets.

Subdivisional officer Umasankar S. has sent a list of students from whom the cellphones were seized the West Bengal Higher Secondary Council. He said the invigilators would be replaced.

The joint convener of examinations in Birbhum, Jiyaul Islam, told The Telegraph : "Some of the students had hidden their cellphones in shoes, socks and trousers. The SDO ordered a search as the invigilators did not know anything about it. They will be replaced." The invigilators pleaded helplessness, saying there was no way of knowing if a student was hiding a cellphone in his shoes or socks as they lacked the authority to frisk an examinee.

Asked if there was a provision to frisk a student, Pralay Nayek, a member of the district advisory committee on higher secondary exam, said an invigilator could ask an examinee to empty his pockets or open his shoes if he suspected him of carrying any unauthorised item.

According to police, the images of question papers allegedly sent via email or WhatsApp were printed out and photocopied by relatives and friends. The papers were then filled with answers, and their pictures were sent back the same way. "It's easy. Almost everybody has a computer and a printer at home these days. It hardly takes time to click a picture and send through a cellphone. It is not possible for us to go to every household in the neighbourhood and find out if images of the question papers have been sent," a police officer.(TT)