Gurdaspur, March 13
To keep tabs on copying during the ongoing Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) examinations, the Gurdaspur district administration, with the approval of the Director General of School Education (DGSE), has deputed senior officers. The Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) and Executive Engineers (XENs) of various departments have been deputed as observers.

After the PSEB had established a total of 251 examination centres in the entire district, Deputy Commissioner Abhinav Trikha asked the DEO (Secondary) to identify the sensitive centres. Based on their past track record, a total of 65 centres were categorised as sensitive.

The administration has now posted its own officers in these centres and the impact has been dramatic as experts claim the incidence of cheating has now come down dramatically.

One big reason for copying to have subsided to a great extent was that earlier the PSEB officials, in charge of conducting examinations, were allegedly hand-in-glove with some unscrupulous elements.

ADC (Development), Chief Agriculture Officer, Deputy Director (Sainik Welfare), Deputy Director (Animal Husbandry), Sub Divisional Officers (SDOs), Senior Medical Officers (SMOs) and Executive Engineers (XENs) of various departments, including those belonging the Powercom, have been assigned duties.

"Earlier, copying would occur at the behest of local politicians. However, that has now come to an abrupt end following which we have to face the ire of these leaders," said an official.

An XEN said a private school had established a centre on the second floor. This was ostensibly done to ensure that if a flying squad arrived, students would get ample time to stop cheating. Likewise, the modus operandi adopted by various private schools to facilitate cheating was also unique in nature. However, all this has come to an end now, he added.