subject: Digital Examination System In Universities In India [print this page] It is quite common in India that question papers of Board /University or some important competitive examinations get leaked out by people with some vested interest; mostly for commercial gains and at times to subvert system so as to help certain individuals. Such an act not only puts the academic schedule out of gear but directly impacts thousands of students and aspirants by nullifying their hard work and preparation. The system of sending question papers in sealed envelopes directly to the college Principals, which were to be opened only on the day of examination, has also failed due to the connivance of some unscrupulous Principals.
To put an end to this menace, some ten years ago, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Hyderabad introduced a system of distribution question papers digitally over the internet. In this system, encrypted question papers were uploaded on the internet. Principals of all affiliated colleges were provided restricted access to the URL holding the database as users. The required question paper of a particular day/session could be downloaded by the Principals concerned using a decryption key provided to them just one hour before the scheduled start of the examination. It used to be tense one hour in the Principals chamber to get the encryption key through mobile communication from the university, download all relevant question papers for the day, take a paper print and immediately photo-copy the same to required numbers and distribute the same to the examination halls just-in-time to commence the examination as per scheduled time. This process was further made complex because, at that time JNTU had a system of issuing four sets question paper for each subject; i.e., on the same subject 25% of the students answered set A, another 25% set B, yet another 25% set C and the remaining students set D. A well defined seating plan combined with four sets question papers ensured that every two adjacent students answered question paper from different set. In other words, no two adjacent students had the same question paper thereby the possibility of students resorting to unfair practices, during the examination, was prevented.
As the system dependent totally on internet and mobile communication, which are not 100% reliable, especially for colleges located at remote places, the university had a back up arrangement in the form of question papers on CDs. All question papers pertaining to a session of a day are copied on a single CD and packed in a sealed envelope. A bunch of all such envelopes pertaining to different sessions are delivered to the Principals by hand by on officer of the university who carried the packet in a special transport. All this was to ensure that the CDs do not fall in the hands of any unauthorized persons, other than the Principals. Even the Principals could not open the packet and view the CDs without the explicit approval of Registrar(Examination). If the digital system failed on the date/session of examination, Principal should call the Registrar on telephone and seek his permission to access the CD for the session. Only then the envelope can be opened by the Principal, in the presence of JNTU appointed external invigilator. At the conclusion of all examination of a semester all used as well as sealed CDs were returned to the Registrar to confirm that the CDs were not misused.
To implement this system, all colleges were asked to establish a high speed PC with a laser jet printer and a high speed reprographic machine. The system worked fairly well and the matter of leakage of question papers had become a thing of the past and malpractices inside the examination hall had become more or less extinct.
Recently, Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) introduced a similar system of digital distribution of question papers for the examinations held in June/July 2012 and again now during Dec 2012 /Jan 2013. They made the system a bit more elaborate and secure. They contracted a vendor to implement the system. The vendor installed the required hardware (a high end PC, a high speed printer and a UPS) in each college and provided an operator to assist the Principal in downloading and printing the question papers. To ensure no one enters the Principals chambers and tampers with the PC, a CCTV camera is installed, which is supposed to be monitoring all movements of personnel inside the chambers at all times. In this system three people are involved to get an access to a question paper. They are the Principal, the deputy chief superintendent of examinations appointed by VTU and the vendors operator. All these three are provided with separate passwords, all of which are needed to decrypt and view the question paper on session to session basis. Here also a back up CD is provided to the Principal for use when the digital system fails, only with the telephonic concurrence of the Registrar (Examination) of VTU. The system has proven to be satisfactory and no difficulty has been experienced so far. The system assures security beyond doubt; but one wonders if such an elaborate arrangement with CCTV recording etc is really warranted. Also, outsourcing hardware installation and its operation by a third party is felt infructuous, as this could have been easily organized within the resources available in an engineering college. On the other hand, because VTU implemented the system without much preparation or training to the colleges, outsourcing ensured the process worked without any hitch and even if any difficulty cropped up, the same was sorted out by the vendor. VTU does not have multi sets of question papers for each subject, which simplifies the reprography and distribution of papers to the examination halls.
To conclude the system of digital distribution of question papers has stood the test of time and it is time for others to emulate and eradicate the curse of leakage of papers on the eve of examinations.
