When examinations need an examination!

If it was not surreally shocking, it would be funny. News from Bihar that two of its intermediate (pre-university course) toppers interviewed in a TV show could not answer basic questions - including so much as naming the subject one had studied - has left the state government, "red-faced after recent claims" that its board examinations were conducted with foolproof security. A fall in the share of candidates who passed does suggest sincere efforts by the government. However, authorities have filed police complaints against a college and four toppers and ordered a special probe into alleged academic irregularities following the revelations. We can take rich guesses as to what might have transpired because cheating invigilators and officials at various levels are in abundance in many parts of India, particularly the Hindi belt. From mass copying to question paper leaks to imposters writing examinations to experts dictating answers by mobile phones to students inside halls, accounts of cheating are legion. Some involve corrupt school/college authorities. Last year, people were outraged over a picture in a village not far from Patna where friends and family members of a school climbed a school wall to pass on, "answer chits." Have we perfected some logistical system of cheating that parallels Mumbai's famous dabbawalas who serve food to office workers?