In a bizarre incident, students at a private college in Karnataka were made to wear cardboard boxes covering their head during an exam to allegedly prevent them from cheating.
IMAGE: First-year science students of Bhagat PU College sit for a midterm exam with cardboard cartons covering their heads — with a hole cut out in the front for their face — in Haveri district of Karnataka. Photograph: PTI Photo
The students were provided with ‘modified’ cartons with an opening on one side when they came to write their mid-term exam on October 16, official sources said.
The college officials called it an ‘experiment’ to prevent students from copying from other answer-sheets, sources said.
As the pictures of students with the cartons on their heads while writing the exam went viral, education board officials visited the college and stopped it.
A show-cause notice has also been issued to the college, officials said.
In a post on his facebook page, primary and secondary education minister S Suresh Kumar said, This is totally unacceptable. Nobody has any right to treat anybody moreso students like animals. This perversion will be dealt with aptly.”
Many on social media echoed the views of the state education minister.
“This is ridiculous and humiliating for the students. Yes, cheating is a problem, but this is not the way to solve it. Whoever approved this should be reprimanded,” wrote a user.
Justifying the action, College head MB Satish told reporters that a college in Bihar had used a similar method to curb cheating during exams and was widely appreciated on social media.
“We tried to do this for the betterment of students. We don’t want students’ mind to be diverted… the front side of the boxes was open. This was our new experiment. We have received both positive and negative feedback,” he said.
With inputs from agencies
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