Each time a controversy surrounding question paper leaks or other scandals in medical entrance exams surfaces, I am reminded of the time in 2010 when I had just assumed charge as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi. Based on a tip-off and after much sleuthing, my colleagues and I unearthed more than a decade-old racket involving annual leaks in the entrance examination for the university’s medical college. I decided to entrust the responsibility of conducting subsequent examinations to one of several well-known institutions.
To my dismay, I discovered that each one of these institutions had a history of paper leaks quite akin to ours. Lest the reader gains the impression that such lapses are confined to the conduct of medical entrance examinations, let me disabuse them of such a notion. I had first encountered such malpractice in my time as a schoolboy.
I was about to face the first question paper of the school–leaving examination being conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education. About an hour before the exam began, a classmate approached me and a couple of my friends. He whispered to us that the pattern of the question paper had been changed completely. He revealed the new pattern, and also reeled off a series of questions purportedly from the paper.
I took his claim very lightly—until I set my eyes on the actual question paper in the examination hall. My classmate had been privy to the actual question paper. Later, some of us realised that there was a small group of students in my class that had this classmate as a leader who had access to every single question paper well in advance. Not surprisingly, this group performed exceedingly well when the results were declared. It became evident to me that there were well-organised players at work. A few years later, the racket was busted when it had assumed alarming proportions.
Also read: Heat stress is not a temperature. India needs to learn that
A proposal for NTA
The malady of question paper leaks has assumed a persistent, virulent form over a long period of time. However, what baffles me is not so much the leaks as the fact that we seem so helpless in our effort to stymie the rot. The remedy for this affliction does not involve rocket science. It requires good planning and a wise use of technology.
To begin with, the National Testing Agency (NTA) must put in an extraordinary effort to create a well-designed question bank that comprises a large database. It must ensure internet facilities at every examination centre. Such centres must also have reliable electrical power backup facilities and fast, robust laser printers.
The NTA must then craft an algorithm that can create, in an unpredictable fashion and in little time, a well-crafted question paper. This paper must be sent to exam centres in an encrypted form a few hours before the test begins. And each room of the examination centre must have CCTV cameras. The question paper can then be distributed without compromising the exam.
If candidates can be supplied with decent desktops or laptops, then the paper can be communicated by email to each candidate at the exact time. The answers may be typed and sent electronically to a central facility. An alternative could be candidates writing answers by hand.
This is merely a preliminary proposal. The hope is that it initiates a brainstorming programme from which a foolproof examination method can emerge that would engender faith in the examinee.
Dinesh Singh is the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi and adjunct professor of mathematics at the University of Houston, Texas, USA. He tweets @DineshSinghEDU. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)