Curbing malpractices in exams
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: March 08, 2024 -

AFTER Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian Parliament, passed "The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024" on February 5 last, the state assemblies of Assam and Manipur followed suit with clearance of their "The Assam Public Examination (Measures for Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Bill, 2024" and "The Manipur Prevention of Malpractices in High School Leaving Certificate and Higher Secondary Examination Bill, 2024" on February 26 and March 4 respectively.

This was not a mere coincidence but the culmination of a long conscious effort made to streamline the education system with the framework of National Education Policy-2020 (NEP 2020), which was approved by the Union Cabinet in July 2020.

However, there is one main difference between the three Bills.

While the Bills passed by the Lok Sabha and the Assam Legislative Assembly focus on preventing malpractices such as leaking of question papers, tampering of documents and computer networks in public examinations for recruitments, the Bill approved by the Manipur Legislative Assembly aims to curb malpractices in the examination processes for students at high school and higher secondary level.

In other words, the scope of the Bills passed by the Lok Sabha and the Assam Legislative Assembly is far wider than that of the Manipur bill. Accordingly, the penalties prescribed are also different.

While Union minister Jitendra Singh, who piloted the Bill approved by the Lok Sabha had made it clear that even though the Bill seeks to punish officials or organisations that indulge in malpractices during conduct of public examination with jail term up to 10 years and a fine of over Rs 1 crore, students or candidates will not come under its purview; the Assam Bill includes severest penalties including up to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 10 crore, apart from the fact that it would authorise the government to penalise anyone, including examinees, engaged in activities such as leaking, producing, selling, printing, or solving question papers to assist candidates.

Taking all these into account, the passage of "The Manipur Prevention of Malpractices in High School Leaving Certificate and Higher Secondary Examination Bill, 2024", regardless of being hailed as a crucial step towards combating malpractices in examinations, pales in comparison to the Bills passed by the Lok Sabha and the Assam Legislative Assembly not just in terms of its scope but also in the penalties prescribed for the offenders.

Even though it delineated that "notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, all offences under this Act shall be cognizable offences and shall be non-bailable", the maximum penalty a person could attract in cases of impersonation when the Manipur Bill becomes an Act is "imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with a fine which may extend to one lakh rupees but not less than twenty thousand rupees or with both, or under juvenile Justice Act, 2015 in case of juvenile".

Of course, there is no guarantee that malpractices in the annual examinations for students of class X and XII being conducted respectively by the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur (BSEM) and the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur (CoHSEM) would stop by increasing the severity of punishment to be given to the offenders as various research studies around the world have shown that "more severe punishments do not "chasten" individuals convicted of crimes, and prisons may exacerbate recidivism".

So, what's needed is the strict enforcement of rules and regulations laid down for ensuring free and fair conduct of the examinations and enhancing surveillance not just during the examination periods also at the time of evaluation of answer scripts.

This would go a long way in streamlining the education system of the state by aligning with the National Education Policy-2020, which envisages to change the environment of the examination system by shifting from rote learning to critical thinking and bringing in flexibility in assessment by ensuring continuous evaluation so as to reduce importance of board exams.