Shoes, socks banned among students in India to prevent exam cheating

Students in Bihar, an eastern city in India, have been banned from wearing shoes and socks in an examination hall to guard against cheating.

The move was introduced to stop the distribution of notes containing solved problems during a test, officials told the BBC News in a report.

This law is expected to take effect from Wednesday, February 21, 2018.

It is being enforced around the time when students aged 15 years old, estimated around a sum of 1.8 million of India's population, will be writing Class 10 exams.

According to the BBC, Bihar is notorious as a location where examination malpractice has thrived over a long period.

To ensure compliance to exam rules, students should anticipate a thorough search as they attempt to enter an examination hall.

In addition, a video camera will be installed onsite to aid monitoring. Anyone who fails to comply with the order to have their shoes and socks removed will be made to wait outside the exam room report says.

Is examination malpractice a reason for corruption in Nigeria?

Nigeria has dealt with a share of problems relating to examination malpractice which is closely linked with corruption according to Prof Ike Onyechere, the Founding Chairman, Exam Ethics Marshal International.

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The academician who spoke at the 20th anniversary ceremony of the organisation in Calabar, Cross River State, in the year 2017, blamed poor quality in education on dishonesty while has created room for the menace to blossom.

“Education is the source code and character of a nation, when the source code (fundamental) is corrupt, everything that comes from it will surely be corrupt.

“We want to create a platform that can produce citizens, workforce and leaders with credible characters as well as the capacity to shun corruption and have the competence to deliver.

“Anyone could fall victim of a product of exam malpractices at any given time, it could be a quack doctor, nurse or even an accountant who sorted his or her way out during school.

Education is seriously being challenged my examination malpractice and academic dishonesty," says Onyechere in a report compiled by Vanguard News.

His submission aptly describes the alarming state of education in Nigeria, where competence in the teaching profession is not so sufficient - a factor that encouraged the government in Kaduna to conduct a widespread dismissal of its incompetent academic staff.