After six days of examination, 4.47 lakh examinees have dropped out of the state board exams indicating the Government’s success in the crackdown on cheating.The figure is 10 per cent of the total number appearing for the examination this year.This dropout rate is increasing by the day. On Day I of the exams it was 1.41 lakh. Officials predict that the figure will rise further.Already, 141 FIRs have been registered in the state against teachers and outsiders involved in the use of unfair means. Exams in 30 centres have been cancelled and 2,295 students have been caught cheating. Detailing the actions taken so far, Secondary Education Minister Rang Nath Misra blamed the erstwhile Government led by the Samajwadi Party for the decline in the UP Board examination’s reputation. He said the Mayawati Government was bent on improving the image of UP Board and the dropout was a reflection of the same. “This is just the beginning. From next year, we will start monitoring the registration of the students from Class IX to restrict malpractices. We will devise innovative ways to stop the use of unfair means,” he said. He cited the example of Bulandshahr, where the district administration has installed cameras in 12 examination centres.The teachers, however, wonder if the dropout is a result of the crackdown. “It is a matter of investigation,” said RP Mishra, chief of the teachers’ association. Some cases, meanwhile, have been reported of examinees running off with question papers and answer-sheets to avert getting caught cheating.One of the incidents took place in Muzzafarnagar district, where five boys ran away. The other took place in Lucknow on Wednesday.Kamta Ram Pal, the district inspector of schools, Muzaffarnagar, told The Indian Express: “Minutes after the question papers were distributed in the higher secondary boards, a few students rushed out of the classroom and escaped by scaling the boundary wall of the exam centre.”“FIRs have been lodged against all of them,” he added. In Lucknow, Mohd Asif, appearing for his secondary boards, escaped when it was time to submit the answer-sheets. An FIR was registered against him as well, Pal said.
