The increasing use of smartphones and even smart watches as cheating tools has made the JEE board consider using signal scanners at the exam venues.

The board has set up a committee to study the feasibility of using handheld devices for detecting cell phone signals ahead of this year's engineering and medical entrance tests on May 5 and 6.

"The panel will study the feasibility of using radio frequency microwave signal detector in the exam halls from this year. It has been asked to submit its report at the earliest," JEE board chairman Bhaskar Gupta said on Friday.

A board member told Metro that over the past few years examinees have been taking photographs of the question papers on their smart phones and sending the images via email or over messenger apps like WhatsApp to relatives and friends, who are solving the problems and sending back the answers the same way.

Although phones are not allowed inside exam halls, students try all kinds of tricks to bring them in - such as hiding them in shoes.

"There is no way to know whether examinees are hiding cell phones as we lack the authority to frisk them," a board official said.

Complaints of such cheating were reported during the HS exams this year at Rampurhat in Birbhum. A search by the Rampurhat sub-divisional officer had resulted in at least 62 cell phones being fished out of shoes, socks and trouser pockets of examinees.

JEE board sources said the authorities had considered the option of installing signal jammers outside the exam halls but dropped the idea as it would have been too expensive.

While smart phones with cameras and Internet access are the standard tool of trade for cheats, smart watches take cheating to another level.

Smart watches look like normal watches but allow users to make hands-free calls, and send texts and emails. They can be used in conjunction with a smartphone or independently.

"There are gadgets that can be worn on the wrist that allow users to take photos, make calls and exchange emails and texts. As they can be camouflaged as wrist watches, there is no way we can stop examinees from wearing them," Gupta said.

A professor in the radio physics and electronics department of Rajabazar science college, Animesh Maitra, said a signal detector could identify the source of a mobile signal.

He, however, highlighted the limitation of the system. "The closer the detector is taken to the source, the stronger the signal gets. But if the user puts the mobile in 'flight' mode while someone is roaming with the detector inside the room, the signal can't be detected. A smart user would activate the phone the moment the person with the detector leaves the room," he said.

To pre-empt such a move by examiners to escape detection, Maitra said, someone has to remain present in the room with the device throughout the duration of an exam. 

“But I doubt whether the board can deploy each man armed with a detector in each room throughout the duration.”
Board chairman Gupta admitted they did not have any plan to station a person carrying the detector in each room. “Each exam centre could have a person carrying out random checks in the rooms,” Gupta said.

In JEE, a venue comprises as many as 10 rooms.