Ahead of exam, all eyes on ears in Davangere

Malpractices in exams have become so sophisticated that it is requiring unusual interventions.

For example, in Davangere, the district administration for the first time is deploying ENT specialists during the graduate teacher recruitment test slated to be held in the city on May 21 and 22. The ENT specialists will check the ears of candidates using an otoscope to see whether they are using any microdevice during the test.

The move comes in the wake of the police sub-inspectors’ recruitment scam that rocked the state recently.

Superintendent of Police C B Rishyanth said candidates, generally, in examinations insert a micro Bluetooth inside their ear and receiver in their shoes, a mode of cheating that first came to light in an exam in 2017.

The Bluetooth is not easily visible to the naked eye and the colour of the device is similar to human skin.

“So, we decided that ENT specialists must be there at the centre on those days. They have a unique method of holding the ear and checking whether any object is inserted inside the ear using an otoscope,” said Rishyanth.

The candidates will be frisked in three stages. Police will first check at the entrance of the centre.

Later, officials of the public instruction department will conduct their own checks along with the ENT specialists. Finally, room invigilators will also do the same inside the examination hall.

The SP said this method of cheating during the examinations came to light in 2017 during the exam to fill the assistant and junior engineers’ posts in the water resources department. And this happened during the PSI recruitment also. “So, I and the deputy commissioner decided to use the services of ENT specialists.”

DDPI Thippeshappa said for the first time, metal detectors and the services of ENT experts are being used in recruitment tests. Also, candidates must enter the examination hall after placing their shoes and slippers on the footwear stand.