With just over one month left for the SSLC examinations, the office of the Deputy Director of the Public Instruction is yet to install CCTV cameras in 74 SSLC examination centres in government schools across the district.
The DDPI office is in a quandary over the funds to be used for installing cameras. It has appealed to Karnataka Secondary Education and Examination Board (KSEEB) to specify whether it will release special grants for the purpose or whether cumulative funds in the schools or the funds provided under the Union government scheme Rashtriya Madhyamak Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) can be used to set up the cameras.
The KSEEB, which had made the installation of CCTV cameras mandatory in all the examination centres has neither released funds nor instructed the district authorities on which funds ought to be used to install the cameras.
There are over 134 SSLC examination centres in the district and each centre has over 15 rooms in which the examinations will be conducted. The Board had directed the DDPI to set up CCTV cameras in each room to prevent examination malpractices. This decision was made in the wake of reports of incidents of mass copying carried out with the connivance of few officials over the last few years at certain centres across the State.
According to sources in the Education Department, if the Board releases funds to the DDPIs in each district, the DDPIs have to go through a long procedure to get the cameras installed that will include calling of tenders.
Instead, if the Board asks the SDMCs to install cameras with the funds available with them or if it releases the amount directly to each school, it may not be a problem and the SDMCs could install cameras in few days time. Hence, the Department is eagerly awaiting the government’s instruction to expedite the work.
Examination dates
Of the 134 centres, 60 are in private schools which have already installed CCTV cameras. The SSLC examinations are scheduled to begin on March 30 and end on April 17 this year.
