Students made to wear cardboard boxes during exam to avoid cheating

Students in a Karnataka college were made to wear head covers made of cardboards during an exam, apparently in a bid to prevent them from cheating. The move triggered widespread criticism after a video of the incident went viral.

Around 50 students from Bhagat Pre-University College in Haveri town were made to write their mid-term exams in economics and chemistry on Wednesday (October 16) wearing cardboard boxes over their heads.

A hole was cut out on the cartons near the eyes to help them read and write.

Responding to this, Karnataka Education Minister S Suresh Kumar said on Twitter that the incident will be “dealt with aptly”. “Nobody has any right to treat anybody, more so students, like animals. This perversion will be dealt with aptly,” he said on Twitter.

This is totally unacceptable. Nobody has any right to treat anybody more so students like animals. This pervertion will be dealt with aptly. https://t.co/y69J0XcTA6

— S.Suresh Kumar, Minister – Govt of Karnataka (@nimmasuresh) October 18, 2019

A few others on social media shared the same opinion as that of the education minister.

Meanwhile, college head MB Satish justified the staff’s actions by pointing out a similar incident that had taken place earlier in Bihar. He claimed that the episode in Bihar had been widely appreciated on social media.

“We tried to see how it would work,” he was quoted as saying by IANS. He also claimed that they had informed the students beforehand that boxes would be given to each of them.

A senior officer of the Deputy Director of Public Instruction named Peerzaada told NDTV that they have ordered an inquiry into the incident. “I personally visited the college during the exam and made sure that the cardboard ‘head covers’ were removed,” he told NDTV.

“We will take action once the inquiry is complete. We have asked students to not follow such instructions if they were given by the college management,” he said.

(With inputs from agencies)