Que. What are the aims and objects of recently passed and enforced, The Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act 2024? Whether University/State Education Board examinations, too, are covered under the Act?
अभी हाल में पारित तथा लागू किये गये, लोक परीक्षा (अनुचित साधनों की रोकथाम) अधिनियम 2024 के लक्ष्य तथा उद्देश्य क्या हैं? क्या विश्वविद्यालय/राज्य शिक्षा परिषद की परीक्षायें भी इस अधिनियम के अंतर्गत आती हैं?
Structure of the Answer
(i) Introduction: Briefly introduce the “Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024” and its primary aims in addressing examination malpractices.
(ii) Main Body: Discuss the Act’s aims, provisions, and coverage, including its application to University/State Board examinations, structured under multiple headings.
(iii) Conclusion: Summarize the broader implications of the Act on examination integrity and its comprehensive coverage of academic institutions.
Introduction
The “Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024” aims to prevent “cheating and malpractices” in public examinations. It provides stringent mechanisms to ensure “fairness, transparency, and accountability” across competitive and academic exams at all levels.
Aims and Objectives of the Act
The Act seeks to address unfair practices in examinations to maintain their integrity.
(i) Curbing Cheating and Fraud: The Act aims to prevent “unfair means” such as cheating, impersonation, and fraud in public examinations by strengthening preventive measures.
(ii) Ensuring Meritocracy: It aims to create a “merit-based system” where candidates are assessed solely on their abilities, enhancing fairness in recruitment and admissions.
(iii) Legal Deterrence: The Act provides stringent “penal provisions” to deter individuals and institutions from engaging in malpractices, ensuring accountability.
(iv) Modernizing Exam Surveillance: It promotes the use of “advanced technologies” like biometrics, CCTV, and digital tools to detect and prevent cheating in real-time.
(v) Promoting Institutional Integrity: By mandating strict protocols for exam-conducting bodies, the Act strengthens the role of institutions in upholding the fairness of examinations.
Key Provisions and Enforcement Mechanisms
The Act outlines strict provisions and enforcement tools to tackle malpractices effectively.
(i) Penalties and Punishments: The Act imposes “severe penalties,” including fines and imprisonment, for those found guilty of using unfair means in examinations.
(ii) Role of Exam Supervisors: Invigilators and examiners are held accountable under the Act, with “strict penalties” for negligence or collusion in malpractice incidents.
(iii) Surveillance and Monitoring: Real-time “digital surveillance” mechanisms like video recording, facial recognition, and biometric attendance are mandated to curb malpractices.
(iv) Preventive Action: The Act empowers authorities to take “preemptive measures” such as enhanced screening and verification to detect fraud before and during examinations.
(v) Collaborative Enforcement: It requires collaboration between “law enforcement, state agencies, and educational boards” to implement a coordinated framework against exam malpractices.
Coverage of University and State Board Examinations
The Act’s scope is broad and inclusive of various academic and public examination bodies.
(i) Public Exams Focus: Primarily targeting “public service” exams conducted by government agencies, the Act ensures fairness in key recruitment processes.
(ii) Inclusion of Universities and Boards: The Act explicitly covers “University and State Education Board” examinations, ensuring that unfair means are curbed across educational institutions.
(iii) Standardized Enforcement: Its provisions are applicable uniformly to both competitive and “academic exams,” ensuring all assessments follow stringent anti-cheating measures.
(iv) Empowerment of Educational Bodies: Educational institutions are empowered to implement “internal mechanisms” for detecting and preventing unfair practices in their examinations.
(v) Institutional Collaboration: The Act ensures “coordination” between academic institutions and state agencies to enforce anti-cheating measures, maintaining examination integrity across sectors.
Significance and Future Challenges
While the Act is a major step toward securing examination systems, challenges remain.
(i) Restoring Trust: By curbing malpractices, the Act helps “restore public trust” in examinations, addressing public concerns over recent cases of exam fraud and paper leaks.
(ii) Ensuring Equal Opportunities: The Act enforces “equality in assessment,” ensuring that every candidate is judged on their abilities and not through manipulation or fraud.
(iii) Implementation Challenges: Effective implementation, particularly in rural areas and under-resourced regions, remains a challenge for ensuring uniform enforcement of the Act.
(iv) Technological Advancements: While the Act incorporates “modern surveillance tools,” it needs to continuously evolve to tackle sophisticated cheating methods that may emerge with advancing technology.
(v) Legal Oversight: The Act provides for judicial intervention to ensure “fair enforcement” and prevent misuse of its provisions against candidates or institutions wrongfully accused of malpractice.
Conclusion
The “Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024” marks a critical step toward securing the integrity of public and academic exams, ensuring “fairness, transparency, and accountability” across recruitment and education, including university and board exams.
