HYDERABAD: Several hundred cases of cheating and impersonation were detected at various centres across the interior of Sindh on the first day of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination that began on Tuesday.

Over 300,000 candidates are appearing in the exams being conducted under the Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Larkana boards.

The 25 monitoring and vigilance committees formed by the Hyderabad Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education caught 50 candidates cheating and five impersonators at various centres.

The teams visited 59 of the total 213 centres in 10 districts — Hyderabad, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Jamshoro, Dadu, Tando Mohammad Khan, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal and Shaheed Benazirabad.

In Larkana, rampant cheating was reported at most exam centres. The 34 monitoring and vigilance committees constituted by the Larkana Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) detected 214 cheating cases.

Sikandar Mirjat, the controller of examinations, said 81 impersonators were also caught taking the paper on Tuesday.

He said that around 43,000 candidates took the Sindhi and Urdu papers on the first day of the exams. He said that 10 Karachi-domiciled persons were found taking the Urdu paper at the Govt Pilot Secondary School, Larkana, on fake admission to the St Mary Rose School, Larkana. He said the affiliation of the school with the board was suspended and a two-member committee was constituted to investigate the matter.

The controller said that monitoring and vigilance teams visiting centres in Jacobabad, Kandhkot-Kashmore and Dadu districts reported no cheating or impersonation case on Tuesday.

The highest copying cases (175) and impersonation (68) were reported from Larkana district and the lowest (five) from Qambar-Shahdadkot. Shikapur teams reported 47 cheating cases.

A total of 131 centres have been established in Lar­kana, Shikarpur, Jacob­abad, Kandh­kot-Kashmore, Qambar-Shahdadkot and Dadu districts.

At some centres, media teams found people passing on solved papers and other cheating material from outside the centres to candidates.

Use of unfair means without any fear were also reported from many exam centres in Mirpurkhas city but only 10 candidates were caught and a couple of impersonators were detected by the vigilance teams.

Media teams visited a large number of centres and found candidates being helped by outsiders, teachers and even policemen posted outside in solving the paper.

Free movement of unconcerned people in the exam centres was also noted.

A similar situation prevailed at other exam centres in other cities and towns of the district where 23 cheating and seven impersonation cases were detected.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2015

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