CU asks principals of its affiliated colleges to take action against exam misconduct
Telegraph | 3 April 2025
Calcutta University has asked the principals of its affiliated colleges to take action against students accused of humiliating and threatening invigilators for trying to prevent the use of unfair means during examinations.
The university's syndicate, which met last week, resolved that the heads of the colleges would be asked to act after the office of the controller of examinations placed before CU's highest decision-making body complaints from different colleges regarding the humiliation faced by invigilators.
The university's registrar said they had received complaints that many invigilators who tried to prevent examinees from cheating during the undergraduate semester examinations were "threatened and humiliated".
"The college principals have been asked to take action following the university's statutes, which prescribe that offenders proven guilty be debarred or their examinations be scrapped. If we cannot maintain the sanctity of the examination system, the whole system will collapse. The invigilators who try to ensure that transparency is maintained cannot be threatened and humiliated for doing their job," said registrar Debasis Das.
The minutes approved at the March 26 meeting of the syndicate state: "Resolved that the Controller of Examinations be entrusted to intimate the colleges that the college authorities should follow the rules prescribed in the CU First Ordinances, CU First Statutes and the CU Act 1979 (as amended till date) for taking steps against unruly students."
CU's authorised vice-chancellor, Shanta Datta, said the degree of punishment will depend on the gravity of the offence, which will be dealt with by the disciplinary committee of the respective colleges.
There are different categories of punishment for copying with chits, smartphones, and smartwatches, said a CU official.
"It is mentioned in the admit cards that the examinees cannot carry phones or smartwatches. Still, they enter with such devices to copy during the examination. When the invigilators try to prevent them from copying, they misbehave with the invigilators. The principal of Netaji Nagar Day College in South Calcutta was forced to lodge an FIR at Netaji Nagar police station when the students of Prafulla Chandra College, who came to write the examination at the day college, apart from humiliating the invigilators, misbehaved with the principal because they had been caught with mobiles. This won't be tolerated anymore," Datta told The Telegraph.
The invigilators of the day college reported against five Prafulla Chandra College candidates writing their BCom third-semester examination last week for copying answers from mobiles. The students reportedly threatened the invigilators when they refused to hand over the phones.
A team of cops from Netaji Nagar police station went to the college to bring the situation under control.
A college principal said the university should start thinking of frisking candidates before they enter examination halls, like the state higher secondary council has started doing from this year.