Indian Parents Bring Exam Cheating To Epic Levels As Education Officials Watch Helplessly

Exam cheating happens in many countries but in India many students and parents (yes, parents!) have raised the bar intellectual dishonesty to epic levels.

The Washington Post reported that parents in Hajipur town, Bihar state, went to the extent of scaling the walls of a 4-storey school building, risking life and limb, just to pass off notes, cheat sheets and books for their children taking graded tests.

Image credit: NDTV & Twitter

The massive cheating happened right in front of school authorities who just watched helplessly. Police sent to secure the premises could only just watch although according to NDTV, some of the policemen are suspected of taking bribes from parents to look the other way.

Cheating in India. #Bihar #HTpage11 pic.twitter.com/modaXzQo7C
— Aditya Kalra (@adityakalra) March 19, 2015

"Cheating is our birth right."

India's educational system has always been criticized for its failure to curb rampant exam cheating. Many Indians even believe that cheating is so pervasive that it is now accepted as part of the local culture which is quite shocking considering that the country is a leading contributor to global learning and innovation.

Although cheating is very rampant in India, many students still desire to pass their exam the honest way
Image credit: BBC & AFP

According to an article published by the BBC last year, many Indian students have expressed their frustration and even their resignation over the educational system. Corruption is prevalent starting from admissions to actual research work. Some claim Indian professor publish their works in fake journals. The system is so skewed and the playing field very unequal, favoring the rich and influential, that many end up playing the cheating game. Exam cheating, these students claim, is their birth right.

To quote one female student: "The curriculum is poor, and when lecturers won't teach properly, you have to get private tutorials or just memorise from textbooks. If you really want to know the truth, there's no point in studying properly. You just need to buy one of the cheat books sold in the bazaar and learn the answers."

Education officials are at loss on how to deal with the practice. An education minister in Uttar Pradesh, during the 90s even repealed an anti-copying law after parents took to the streets to protest the anti-cheating law.

Other students also rue the lack of government support for education given the obsolete and dilapidated equipment in their schools which were described as circa 1950s.

As one of the world's rising economies, India must deal with this problem decisively as soon as possible. The country's inability to stop massive exam cheating endanger its plans to bring prosperity to its people and gain the respect of the international community.