Copying in Examinations or Mass Copying

Mass copying in examinations is a universal phenomenon these days.  Many students even consider it their birth right.

Copying has become widespread in examinations. The authorities find it difficult to control it. Be it a school, a college or a university examination centre, the examinees vie with each other in copying the answers. There are students who do not enter classes, but spend their time in eve chasing, going for films and even engaging in anti-social activities like drug addiction. They even work as agents for some anti-social elements to make money.

There are some others who engage themselves in politics and act as mere puppets of certain politicians and political parties. They cause great havoc in the educational institutions by organizing strikes for unnecessary demands, destroying public property, fighting with students belonging to other political parties and thus create great indiscipline. These students do not pay heed to their studies. They think of their studies only at the time of the examination. As they have not studied anything, they resort to copying. They have the support of local politicians and rowdies for this. It is a sad fact that these students who resort to copying score higher marks than those bright students studying in the same class.

Students resort to different methods for copying. They bring notes into the examination halls and write them down on the answer sheets without the knowledge of the invigilators. They also try to copy the answers of those bright students sitting nearby. If those bright students refuse to show the answers, they would threaten them. Sometimes, copying is organized on a massive scale. As soon as the students get the question papers, they note down the difficult questions on paper slips and throw them out of the window. Their friends outside write down the answers and send them back to the students. Often, the invigilators are helpless. If the evil-doers are caught, they first try to escape by an apology. If this fails, they show daggers and pistols to the invigilators and threaten them with dire consequences.

The present yardstick for selection for jobs and other academic courses depends on the percentage of marks obtained in the examination. If this trend is allowed to continue, those who get jobs will be bullies who scored high marks by illegal means. This will also lead to inefficiency in administration. So it is high time that effective steps were made to do away with mass copying. Some states have passed very strict laws to punish those who copy. If this bad habit is not stopped, it will bring a very bad name to our academic institutions.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.