Parents Climb Walls To Help Kids Cheat On Test In India [Video]
Recently in Bihar, India, parents of students were video taped climbing the school house walls in order to pass cheat-sheets to their children as they were taking their end of the year exams.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4jHxfxTRW8
The idea of standardized testing is nothing new in the educational world. Almost anyone who has undergone any level of education over the last fifty or so years is all too familiar with the dread that usually precedes a large end of semester exam. It is also not uncommon in the world of education for students facing a daunting exam, to wish for a little extra “help.” This longing for a little “extra-curricular” aid, has driven many a student to smuggle in a cheat sheet, write the answers on the bottom of their shoe, or just take the basic cheating route of copying your neighbor’s answers.
Students in the Indian state of Bihar, however, have taken the idea of cheating to a whole new level. Normally, when it comes to cheating, students go to great lengths to ensure that their parents never find out about their dishonest tactics. During the most recent administration of the Indian 10th grade finals however, not only did students take zero precautions to ensure their parents did not find out about their cheating — the students actually got their parents in on the scheme.
On Wednesday, March 18, as the Indian school system was administering the end of the year exams, parents of the testers began to scale the walls of the testing facility in order to slip pieces of paper through the open windows to their children. On these slips of papers were the answers to various questions on the test. (See the posted video.)
Indian school officials have since released statements condemning the parents’ actions adding that it is the parents’ job to help the government give their children a balanced and fair education. The Education Minister for Bihar, PK Shahi stated that, “Government can only hold fair examinations with the help of the parents, society and the children…This is a collective responsibility.”
With India’s population soaring and the perceived number of available jobs dwindling, more and more families are feeling the squeeze to ensure that their children receive an education. With a population of over 1.2 billion, it is easy to understand how parents are willing to do whatever it takes to provide their children with any advantage they can. Even if proving that advantage comes via climbing the exterior walls of a school to help their child cheat on a 10th grade exam.
[Featured Image credit to Quartz]
