Copying that shocked govt:  959 students here had same questions, same answers and even same mistakes!

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) officials were in a shock when they recently cracked a mass copying incident that involves as many as 959 students of class XII general stream students, according to a report in the Times of India..

This by far is the single largest instance of mass copying in GSHSEB’s history. The incident took place despite all the strict measures by the examiners. The results of the students have been withheld till 2020 and they have been failed in the subjects in which they have allegedly cheated.

Acting on the complaint, the board authorities closely examined the answer papers of examination centres from where such instances have been reported. These centres are mainly in Junagadh and Gir-Somnath districts.

The students wrote the same answers for the same questions, in the same sequence and even committed the same mistakes, according to the Times of India. At one of the centres, as many as 200 students wrote the essay, ‘Dikri Ghar Ni Divdi (daughter is earthen lamp of the family)’ in the exact same way from the beginning till the end.

The subjects in which the mass copying instances took place included Accounting, Economics, English Literature and Statistics. “The board is planning to cancel examination centres at Amrapur (Gir-Somnath), Visanvel (Junagadh) and Prachi-Pipla (Gir-Somnath) for class XII general stream,” an official of GSHSEB told TOI.

According to TOI, the students also told the committee that the answers were dictated by the teachers. “Many candidates paid annual fees of about Rs 35,000 to the self-financed schools here however they were shown as ‘regular’ students. The students claimed that they attended classes for only about two weeks,” a source told the Times Of India.