Click to play videoNew Delhi: Writing an exam can be quiet an adventure in Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, a place where thousands of semi-literate students from across the state congregate for a common purpose – to pass their Board exams.
Helping them achieve their academic dream, however, are locals whom the students refer to as the cheating mafia.
“Though the rate is Rs 5,000, we're charged extra if the paper is tough. It's safe to cheat here and I hope that I won't fail this time,” says a student.
The cheating mafia operates from 400 schools across the district. If you've dropped out of school they'll enroll you in one of the 400 schools and arrange for an admit card. No birth certificate is required either for they can easily get a fake one. Most importantly, the cheating mafia will make sure you pass.
For Rs 5,000, uninterrupted access to guide books is given while writing the exam. Even if the invigilator finds out, it is all right, for they are all on the mafia’s payroll.
Also on the payroll are local college boys who solve the question paper in the privacy of nearby farms and give them to students within 40 minutes of the exam starting.
“When flying squads, come teachers take our guide books away and return them once the officials have left,” one of the problem-solvers said.
So profitable is the business of cheating that Kaushambi's model has now inspired schools in neighbouring districts as well. But the going has gotten tough after the Mayawati government cracked down on the mafia. The result: about 5 lakh students have dropped out of the ongoing UP Board exams.
But Kaushambi soldiers on, for after all, it has a reputation to protect after all.
With Ajai Kumar in Allahabad
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.