Students caught sneaking chits in underwear during exams

HYDERABAD: Sneaking chits into the exam hall by hiding them in the underwear has become the most common violation reported during the Intermediate exams this year. According to officials, as many as 142 students have been caught cheating in the last 10 days. Of them, the majority were found hiding chits in their undergarments, while some slipped them into their clothes and shoes.
In recent checks conduct-ed in Bhupalpally, 26 students were caught for malpractices in a single day across four centres.They were found guilty when the flying squad found their behaviour odd and frisked them. They found the chits in undergarments.
“The flying squad saw that they were fidgeting with their clothing, raising suspicion. Though our centre supervisors also frisked them before letting them enter the exam hall, they could not do a thorough check owing to lim-ited time,” said Devaraju Kasa, district intermediate education officer of Bhupalpally.
A similar case was reported from Nizamabad where in the last two weeks 34 students have been caught cheating. “Apart from undergarments, many concealed chits in the seams of their clothes and shoes as well also. We have been telling them repeatedly to not indulge in such activities, but every other day some are caught,” said Raghuraj, DIEO of Nizamabad.
Majority of the students caught so far are male stude-nts, officials said adding that many of them failed in their exams in 2022, 2023. “When we dug deeper into the cases in Bhupalpally, we found that most of these students failed in two-three subjects in the last two years and failed to clear supplementary also. We found they are mostly working in shops or fields and not studying,” said the DIEO.
Jayapradha Bai, regional director of TSBIE said that they have tried to maintain a high level of vigilance against malpractices this year and even suspended nine faculty-cum-officers who allegedly allowed malpractice. “Before the pandemic, we had caught nearly 100 a day. However, now students know the consequences. We are still maintaining a tight vigil and sensitising them about the consequences. Once a student is caught, he/she can’t write the exams subsequently scheduled,” she said.
As per procedure, these students will now be presented before a scrutiny committee after exams to analyse whether what they wrote in the answer sheets matches with the chits. “In the case of chits, the attempt is to analyse whether they were actually used or not. If it is found they were not used, they will be allowed to take up supplementary. Else, the committee will take a call on what puni-shment to mete out to them,” explained a senior official.