Scores of students were caught indulging in malpractice in a surprise raid conducted by Minister for Medical Education S A Ramdas, on two colleges here on Wednesday afternoon.
The annual examination for the Diploma in Nursing Midwifery (DNM) was being conducted at neutral centres, to prevent mass copying, but to no avail. Photocopies of answer sheets and question papers were recovered from the examinees at the Srinivasa College of Pharmacy, on Hennur Main Road and MR DEd College at Yelahanka.
Many students were found copying answers from chits. The minister himself caught some of the students red-handed. The Medical Surgical Nursing-I (Pharmacology) paper for II year DNM students was scheduled when the raids were conducted.
More than 500 students from 18 colleges were writing the exams at the two centres. Reexam, blacklist Ramdas ordered reexamination and blacklisting of the two colleges as examination centres. He also directed the officials of the Department of Medical Education to issue show cause notices to the supervisors of both the centres. Nearly 20,000 students are writing exams at 65 neutral centres.
The exams which began on Tuesday, will go on till August 11. Besides, 1,845 students of Karnataka origin but settled in other states are also writing the exam, following a directive by the High Court. The Karnataka State Diploma in Nursing Examination Board had decided to go for neutral centres to prevent mass copying, a fairly rampant practice in these exams last year. It also formed squads headed by the deputy commissioner of the respective districts. Besides, vigilant teams were set up. Fall in results
The new measures prevented malpractices to an extent, but also led to a sharp decline in the performance of students, with the pass percentage dropping from 80 to 24.On Tuesday, the minister had raided Sri Satyam College of Education in Bellary, and brought the instances of malpractice to the notice of the deputy commissioner.
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