Day 1 of PSEB exams and 31 cheaters caught

The Punjab School Examination Board examinations for class 12 had started off last week on February 28. The students had English as their first assessment. On the first day only, 31 cases of cheating had been reported and nine as maximum from Jalandhar centres.

Teams of flying squad members comprising of board officials visited different districts and also videographed 45 sensitive centres. Most of the cheating cases were reported from Barnala and Ludhiana. The board chairperson Tejinder Kaur Dhaliwal along with her team- finance and development officer (FDO) Gurtej Singh and director computers Navneet Kaur Gill visited Ludhiana.

Gur Shakti School and Indian Public School in Ludhiana were found the most sensitive centres according to the officials. It is expected that these schools will not be made exam centres in the future. Staff were also exchanged in some centres. Ludhiana DEO was called in for explanation for the irresponsibility and absence of the staff.

Interference from the outsiders was noticed by the Secretary education Gurinder Pal Singh Bhatt who visited a government school in Barnala. He sent the answer sheets to the headquarters in SAS Nagar for further checking and ensuring if the answers were copied. Jalandhar topped as the district with maximum cheating cases followed by Ferozpur, Faridkot, Barnala, Nawanshahr, Mansa and Kapurthala.

Fazilka, Gurdaspur, Ludhiana, SAS Nagar and Sangrur districts also witnessed two cases each of cheating.