‘AI, Google emerge as new-age tools for cheating in HS exams’

Kolkata: In a disturbing trend, artificial intelligence (AI) tools and internet search engines like Google have emerged as new-age instruments for cheating in this year’s Higher Secondary (HS) Examinations, raising serious concerns among education authorities.

Despite the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) enforcing a strict zero-tolerance policy on mobile phone use in examination halls, eight students — four male and four female — were caught red-handed with mobile phones during the exams.

To curb malpractice, all 2,089 examination centres across the state were equipped with handheld metal detectors and students were frisked daily before entry. However, determined candidates still found ways to bypass these security measures. Sources from the Council revealed that several of the caught students used their phones to directly search for answers via Google or AI-powered applications, marking a shift from earlier methods of sending out question paper images to external sources. “Everyone used phones to find answers for exam questions. No one sent the paper out to get help from outside,” an official confirmed.

The trend was also observed in this year’s Madhyamik exams, where, for the first time, a student from South Kolkata’s Badartala High School was caught using an AI-powered app to solve math problems by sending pictures of the question paper.

Meanwhile, a student from Gazoldoba High School in Jalpaiguri was caught using a phone in the bathroom of Adarsh Vidyalaya Hindi High School. However, WBCHSE officials later learned that the incident may have involved a group. Sources said the student claimed the phone wasn’t his and that he was part of a group of three to four students who had smuggled the device into the centre’s toilet with external help. The phone was reportedly used by them during frequent bathroom breaks. The student also named another HS examinee as the phone’s owner, who will be summoned for a hearing.

Students employed various innovative methods to sneak in mobile phones. Some camouflaged their devices among metallic objects to fool metal detectors. “If the device beeped, the candidate would show a metallic item like a belt buckle or keys to mislead the checker,” a Council source said. Two to three candidates reportedly used this tactic successfully.

Some smuggled phones hidden in shoes and socks. Among them was a female student from Patha Bhavan, appearing for her Chemistry paper at Binodini Girls’ High School in Kolkata, who had concealed a phone in her shoe. Officials noted that checks were conducted only up to the knee, allowing such breaches to go undetected.

All students caught had their entire examination for the year cancelled and were barred from appearing in any remaining papers. They were recently summoned before the Malpractice and Misconduct Enquiry Committee to explain how the breaches occurred.

The Council is now exploring ways to plug the loopholes exposed during this year’s examinations.