Copying goes hi-tech in MBBS exams

BANGALORE: Paper chits are passe. Munnabhais are going hi-tech when it comes to copying. Invigilators of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) were recently flummoxed by the innovative cheating manner of an MBBS student. The student had worn a custom-made shirt fitted with devices like a lapel mike and an electric circuit inside the collar. And his answers were being transmitted from Hyderabad. Last week, the University nabbed another student, in his final year MBBS, who had a similar hi-tech copying device fitted into his vest. Custom-made shirts fitted with button scanners and lapel mikes, mobile phones without the outer shell and a scanner in the finger ring are some of the devices used for cheating during MBBS exams in the state. And how much do these students spend on the equipment? Nearly Rs 1.9 lakh. "During investigation we found that the shirts/vests are shared by students for a price. The answers are transmitted from hostels and sometimes from other cities. Often if there is a problem during transmission, the students get nervous. Their body language gives them away," the officials said. What has shocked the officials is the painstaking planning that goes before execution. "Students told us they rehearsed the entire process for more than a month before the examinations to ensure nothing goes wrong," RGUHS registrar N S Ashok Kumar told TOI. For the students, the investment on the costly equipment is worth it until they are caught and banned for six months, he said. "The shirt/vest is stitched with a radio frequency transmitter which is the size of a small matchbox, the collar of the shirt has a lapel mike as small as the finger nail. The answers are transmitted via bluetooth earphone. The battery lasts for four hours," he said. Some students told the investigating officials that they indulged in copying because they were forced by their parents to study medicine. RGUHS vice-chancellor K S Sriprakash has ordered a probe into the incidents. "We have to initiate several urgent measures to ensure this dangerous trend does not continue or escalate," he said. 'We cheat because parents want us to study medicine' Candidates have started using hi-tech equipment to clear MBBS examinations in the state. "The shirt/vest is stitched with a radio frequency transmitter which is the size of a small matchbox, the collar of the shirt has a lapel mike as small as the fingernail. The answers are transmitted via Bluetooth earphone. The battery lasts for four hours," said N S Ashok Kumar, registrar of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS). Some students told the investigating officials that they indulged in copying because they were forced by their parents to study medicine. RGUHS vicechancellor K S Sriprakash has ordered a probe into the incidents. "We have to initiate several urgent measures to ensure this dangerous trend does not continue or escalate," he said. Soon, CCTVs in exam halls As a first step to curb the dangerous trend, RGUHS plans to have CCTVs with audio in all its examination halls. There will be a web stream of the whole CCTV operation to a studio-like room in the University. "There can be as many TV monitors to catch all the visuals of the hall. But the first step would be to install mobile jammers in and around the examination hall. We need to outsmart them to end the copying menace," Ashok Kumar said. Gearing up to hoodwink Copycats wear custommade shirt fitted with devices like lapel mike, electric circuits fixed inside the collar, a small pocket under the armpit to hold the mobile Scanners: These come fitted in pens, fingers, buttons, spectacles or caps (students even shave their heads before exams in order to wear the caps) Earplugs and mikes: Bluetooth ones like earplugs (usually in skin colour) to transmit answers, micro earphones, spy earphones, lapel mike, mobile phone sans outer shell Custom made mobile: Mobile fitted with a strap neatly to the wrist, or magnet fitted mobile to fix under the writing table Radio Frequency (RF) transmitter: A small matchbox shaped sound transmitter fitted at the rear of the pant acts as a powerful battery. Operated box runs on radio frequency which can easily transmit answers with crystal clear sound from any part of the country to the exam hall The modus operandi At the exam hall the student scans the paper using scanners that can be fitted anywhere - in pens, shirt buttons, finger rings or in spectacles too! Through a bluetooth device, the question paper is transmitted to the points person outside the hall Using radio frequency (RF) transmitters and table mike, the answers are dictated to the student The student in the hall receives the answers through earplugs The bluetooth devices like earphones come in skin colour, with antenna the size of a strand of hair, making them almost impossible to detect. Source: TNN