Over 1100 students of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) are facing action after they were caught red-handed by the university authorities while copying during the online examination.
While over 800 students were caught cheating in the recently held second semester examination, over 350 students were caught cheating during the first semester examination held in April-May 2021. While the results of all other students have been declared. These students have been detained until a committee of the university conducts its hearing and decides on punishment.
Mahesh Kakade, director of the examination and evaluation department of SPPU, said most of these students have been tried and made to pay if they are found guilty of misconduct in only one subject or it is a case of minor misconduct. Will go One thousand rupees fine on each. “However, if the malpractice is in multiple subjects or is of serious nature, the result will be withdrawn and the student concerned will have to re-appear for the examination,” he added.
“Most of these students are from the engineering faculty. In fact, they account for about 80 per cent of the total cases of fraud and malpractice,” Kakade said.
While it was initially believed that online proctoring would not be as effective as physical classes, Kakade said that, on the contrary, artificial intelligence (AI) and cameras helped capture even minor misdemeanors.
“There are three main ways in which we are taking up these matters. One of them is agitation, if a student moves a lot during the exam. We have instructed them not to do this… Warning after warning is being given. Finally, the system automatically clears them out of the test… In many cases, the AI has detected mobile phones and cameras and captured screenshots of the same. In some cases, it was found that the students opened an alternate page or website during the exam. This time, we also used sound software and, in some cases, we have voice recordings of students talking to others or groups discussing questions,” Kakade said.
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He said a special team was tracking groups on a particular social network, where screenshots were reported of online test papers being shared. “I can’t tell what our strategy was or how we tracked them down, but we caught the students with evidence on these groups,” he said.
Kakade said the evidence in all cases is available with the university and was shown to the students when they were called for hearings.
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