India is taking unprecedented measures to restore confidence in its national student examination system after a series of scandals fueled angry protests from young people and put pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Last month, authorities took the extraordinary step of canceling the medical entrance exam results of more than 2 million students after allegations of widespread leaking of the papers.
For the retest on June 21, the government will now deploy the Indian Air Force for the first time ever to transport question papers, according to officials familiar with the matter. Individuals involved in setting the exams will be kept under strict surveillance with restricted access to phones and communications, the officials said, asking not to be identified because the details aren’t public.
Modi’s government is trying to curb the fallout of the entrance exam scandal as a separate controversy involving erroneous school marks linked to a new online system simmers. The two issues have fueled protests by Gen Zs in India and been channeled into a political movement called the Cockroach Janta Party, which is calling for the education minister to resign.
Entrance exams are a crucial gateway for students to enter university, find jobs and improve the economic and social status for their families. The stakes are especially high since unemployment for 25 to 29 year olds is estimated at about 20%, according to Azim Premji University.
To restore public integrity, officials have effectively created controlled environments around the printing facilities for exam papers, and restricted the communication and movement of staff involved in preparing the examination material, officials said.
New Delhi sees the fallout as temporary and expects the issues to be fixed. India’s federal investigative agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, has launched a probe into the alleged paper leak involving the medical entrance examination.
“The Prime Minister himself is personally looking into it,” Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters Tuesday. “We will rectify the errors that occurred and ensure the examination is conducted properly.” The minister hasn’t responded to demands that he step down.
The minister and National Testing Agency didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The deployment of military aircraft reflects the government’s seriousness in safeguarding the exam papers after the leaks.
The Indian Air Force has agreed to extend its help under the aide-civil-authority charter of the military, according to officials familiar with the matter. It will largely use helicopters to transport question papers to more than two dozen locations, they said.
Some critics point out that this isn’t a good use of the military’s resources.
“IAF is not a courier service,” retired Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur wrote in a recent opinion piece in The Print, an online news website. He argued that the government should address the flaws in the examination system rather than relying on the airforce to safeguard test papers.
Modi’s rivals led by the opposition Indian National Congress have been quick to use the controversies to criticize his administration. Political analysts have also pointed out that issues like the exam paper leaks undermines institutions in the country.
“What faith can anybody have in a system if it’s unable to even do these basic things correctly?,” said Yamini Aiyar, a visiting fellow at Brown University. If students and parents no longer believe that success comes through merit and fair competition, the sense of trust and social cohesion that holds the system together can start to weaken, she added.
–With assistance from Sudhi Ranjan Sen.
This report is auto generated from the Bloomberg news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.