66 notorious centres under radar as exams kick off

NAGPUR: Board exams this year will not only test the preparation of students, but also of board officials who have been asked to keep tabs on notorious examination centres in the state. 66 examination centres have been identified as notorious centres (NC) in the Nagpur region (which includes six districts) and local authorities have been alerted to keep a stricter vigil.
The nearest NC to Nagpur city is in Ramtek, which has earned the dubious reputation of having three of those. Chandrapur district, with 18 NC is at the top, while Nagpur district is at the bottom with 11 NC. Board officials term a centre as notorious if more than five copying cases were detected in the previous academic year board exams (summer and winter).
Anil Pardhi, divisional board secretary, said, "We would like to first wish students all the best and also remind them to stay away from malpractices. In Nagpur region there will be a total of 383 centres where almost 1.77 lakh students will appear for the exam. Local authorities plus our own squads will be vigilant to track copying cases."
The board has been very aggressive in dealing with cases of malpractices during exams and 69 flying squads will be spread over the region, in addition to local staff, to catch offenders. The board had warned earlier that apart from students caught copying, action will also be taken against teachers if a pattern is detected. But the Vidarbha Shikshak Sangh (VSS) feels that this proposed step is erroneous.
Purshottam Panchbhai, officer bearer of VSS, said, "If a student is caught copying how can you relate it to the invigilator present? There is no proof that the teacher was aware of students carrying any chits. Plus it is impossible and impractical to physically check each and every student for chits or any thing that may give them an unfair advantage during the exams. The process of dealing with students caught copying is already mentioned in the board's guidelines, there is no need to go overboard."
But there have been perceptions of teachers' involvement at notorious exam centres in what the board officials call 'copying pattern'. In this the answers to certain questions are written on the board by the teacher and students copy it blatantly. This blatant copying results in similar answer sheets thus clearly showing a copying pattern.
Officials hope that with the strict implementation of anti-copying measure the HSC 2012 exams give a better performance.
Nagpur region stats for HSC
Districts: Nagpur, Chandrapur, Bhandara, Gondia, Gadchiroli, Wardha
Exam centres: 383
Notorious centre: 66
Male students: 90,113
Female students: 86,437