Bengal: Hold Madhyamik exam CCTV footage until results are announced

The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education has directed all centers of the state’s 2024 Madhyamik (Class X) examinations to ensure that CCTV cameras are kept operational throughout the day in the venues during the exams and preserve the footage till the publication of the results.

 

The move is aimed at curbing and monitoring incidents of untoward incidents at the exam centers and prevent cheating and malpractices by students.

 

“It is mandatory for all the Madhyamik centers to preserve the footage for each day of the Madhyamik examination 2024 till the publication of the results,” a directive issued by the board secretary, Subrata Ghosh on Thursday evening read.

 

The board had introduced CCTV monitoring of all Madhyamik exam venues last year but this is the first time the schools where the exams are to be held have been asked to ensure that CCTV cameras are kept on from 8 am to 5 pm on all the exam days and preserve the recordings of the entire  footage till the publication of the results.

 

The preservation of the footage is aimed to “maintain highest standards of security, transparency and fairness throughout the examination process, the board said.

 

The school heads have been asked to ensure that the CCTV system should have sufficient storage capacity to retain the footage till the publication of the results.

 

According to the directive the access to the CCTV footage should be restricted to “authorized personnel only. The 2024 Madhyamik examination will start on February 2 and conclude on February 12. More than 10 lakh students will write the Class X board examinations next year.

 

Heads of several schools, however, said that they do not have the system to record the footage continuously and they would need to upgrade the facility before the examinations.

 

According to many schools they do not have their own CCTV cameras and they had installed the devices on rental basis last year when the board introduced CCTV surveillance at all exam venues.

 

Heads of some schools, however,  urged the board to ensure that the schools get fully equipped with the facility to implement the instructions of the board.

 

The directive says the footage will have to be kept under the custody of the school heads. Many schools said since  they had installed the cameras on rental basis they would face difficulty in retaining the footage and keeping it under their custody.