March 18: The adage “old is gold” holds good for students as far as cheating in examination is concerned. Paper chits still rule the roost.

However, their innovations have made the process more foolproof. The vintage idea of hiding chits in sleeves, ties and belts has now been replaced by slips tucked under innocuous looking watchstraps.

“During class tests or terminal examination, invigilators often come across students copying from chits hidden under swabs and buckets kept in the class for cleaning,” said Harprit Kaur, a senior teacher of a reputed city school and an invigilator for the ICSE examination.

To the students, however, it is a challenge whether they can fool the teachers or not. When a History test was announced recently, Class VII sudents of a steel school prepared charts and project reports on select topics of the subject under different headings and put them up on the soft board in the class.

“This idea stumped us,” confessed Radhika Singh (name changed on request), the teacher in question.

“Students cheat even when the invigilator is standing close to them. According to them, the invigilators hardly pay any attention to the student they are standing next to,” Singh said.

For one-word answers, or true and false questions, pre-decided signals work as cue, said a senior science teacher.

With the intermidiate examination underway, the Jharkhand Academic Council has expelled more than 60 students for copying and officials say the number will go up.

A couple of students outside the S.S. Memorial College, Ranchi, an examination centre, were busy stuffing chits in their collars. One of them also put a chit inside his shoes and marched into the class. Teachers say it is not possible to keep an eye on all the students.

The chits are also stored in toilets. An examinee said, “Toilets are the best places to keep the chits, the notes and even the passports. No one really checks.” The teachers concur. S.K. Shastri, a geography professor of St. Paul’s College, said, “The toilets are good places for cheating. We have caught many students taking out chits from toilets.”

Two science students were caught cheating today from the St Xavier’s College centre.

The girls have strange ways of cheating. Mona (name changed), a science student of a reputed college, said, “Cheating is the only way we can clear the hurdle”

Suman (name changed), another student, added, “We are not going to disclose the ways. It is a closely-guarded secret. No matter how much the invigilator tries, he cannot catch us. It is just not possible.”