Education, Careers & Professional News
DCE Scam: DU Exam Process Leaks At Every Joint
More than a month after the Delhi College of Engineering question paper scam was first brought to its notice; Delhi University (DU) is still reeling under the shock of its foolproof examination system having been breached. While DU authorities ponder over the first that the varsity has scored, several questions have been raised with regard to DU`s examination processes and safeguards.
DU authorities maintain that nobody more senior than a bearer or a peon is likely to be indicted in the scam. But it seems that the leak could not have taken place without the involvement or oversight of senior professors, principals and administrative heads.
During hushed conversations within the university, the finger has repeatedly been pointed at the office of the controller of examinations. OSD (examinations) Professor B S Garg has resolutely refused to interact with the media ever since the scam was unveiled. After repeated calls to his office and residence and mobile phone, he remained unreachable.
As former dean (students` welfare) and now pro vice-chancellor of Rai University, Hema Raghavan points out, Even if this is a case of mere oversight, the buck definitely stops at the centre in-charge and the university-appointed observers. Should the inquiry reveal the centres involved, the in-charge needs to be pulled up.
A senior university official agreed. Pleading anonymity, he said, The signature across the seal on the question paper bundle, both before the examination and after it, is not just a formality. It means that the officials concerned take responsibility that the process was fair.
Though Raghavan, who, as the former principal of Gargi College has had years of experience in conducting examinations, gives a clean chit to the DU examination system, branding it as unbreachable.
Initial indications – according to the CBI line of inquiry– reveal a fairly clear methodology. The unused question papers– in a competitive examination the number of absentees being more –were picked up from the centre control room and copies smuggled out.
In an immaculately planned operation, the miscreants outside the centre swiftly solved the papers and sent the answers to the examinees through SMS, the whole process consuming little more than an hour of the total three-hour duration of the test.
The fact that at least 21 of the 33 cheating students managed to smuggle in cell phones – strictly banned inside the examination hall – definitely indicates a certain laxness on the part of invigilators, which could have been deliberate. A lot of these are just ad-hoc staff who don`t run the danger of losing their jobs.
The examination process also involves a number of grade III and grade IV staff, some of whom may have been partners in the scam whose perpetrators are understood to have made at least Rs 84 lakh.
There are more breaches. Though this particular instance did not involve a paper leak in the strict sense of the term, a senior DU official recalls a time when the alleged leak of a final examination paper had rocked academic council meetings. The principal of a prominent north campus college had reportedly called up the Vice Chancellor (VC) on the evening before the examination to say that papers were up for sale inside the campus. The fiasco was hushed up and the examination went on as scheduled. But this shows clearly that the strong room may not be all that secure, said the official.