BIJU PATNAIK UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Bhubaneswar, July 13: In order to ensure fair and transparent examinations especially in technical education, the state government is mulling installation of closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) in exam halls of engineering colleges across the state.

The department of technical education had a meeting last week to discuss the possibility of introducing the new system. “This will help check malpractices and cheating during examinations,” said joint secretary of the department Ratnakar Rout. It has been decided that government colleges would be the first ones to have the equipment in place. However, a formal notification in this regard is yet to be issued. Senior officials of the varsity said the feasibility and financial implications of installing CCTV cameras are being studied and that a formal notification would be issued soon. “CCTVs in exam halls will be used to check the cases of malpractice. We can view the recordings and find out if an alleged case of malpractice is true. Also, it will make the students more careful and stop them from resorting to any cheating,” said BPUT examination director S.P. Mohanty.

The proposal for installation of CCTV in examinations halls was being considered for quite some time and already had the approval of the university board. The department is also considering swapping of exam centres. “It has been decided not to allow the students take exams in their own institute as there is every possibility of mismanagement in such cases,” said Rout.

The department is also working towards revamping the university, which is struggling with shortage of manpower. As many as 64 posts have been sanctioned and will be advertised shortly, department officials said.

The employment and technical education and training department has also decided to install biometric attendance facilities for constituent colleges of BPUT to ensure that the quality of education is not neglected. The systems will also be installed in other autonomous engineering educational institutions.