Several held for facilitating cheating in board exams

LAHORE: Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat on Saturday busted another cheating mafia syndicate in a raid at Lahore’s Government College Sabzazar, ARY News reported.

The minister, in the surprise raid, discovered examination hall staffers helping students cheat in the board exams.

The continuous raids began following his covert team’s reports that revealed that the cheating mafia was charging students thousands for cheating in exams.

In another raid, four including a superintendent were arrested for allegedly helping students at the Divisional Public School (DPS) at Model Town. Several were caught red-handed cheating exams while the hall staff members were abetting in the fraud.

Another group of hall-staffers was apprehended in The Punjab School located in PIA Society where students from other educational institutes were made invigilators by the in-charges of the examination centres.

Meanwhile, Minister Hayat said that the cheating mafia had demanded Rs4,000 from students for assistance in cheating board exams.

Alleging the hall staffers of supervising the cheating, he said that students who refused to pay the amount were being harassed by the mafia.

The provincial minister claimed of tracking as many as seven such groups involved in the cheating scandal, saying that the cheating mafia had escaped legal action for the last five years.

Minister Hayat vowed strict punishment for the culprits, saying that first information reports will be registered against the suspects.

According to him, students of grade 9 were made invigilators while pupils from different schools were also posing as invigilators during the board exams.

Students, on the other hand, claimed that the examination hall staffers were demanding money from the students for cheating in exams.

The raid was the latest in a series conducted by the provincial authorities in recent days.

As many as eight individuals, including two centre in-charges and four private invigilators, were arrested for accepting bribes and allowing students to cheat in board exams a day earlier.

Minister Hayat raided Government High School in Lahore’s Mozang area where the students were caught red-handed while cheating in exams.

During the raid, the students were found involved in cheating in all over the examination centre under the supervision of the invigilators and in charge of the examination centre.