The National Institute of Open Learning is planning to make Aadhaar verification compulsory for candidates appearing for examinations to ensure there are no proxy students appearing on their behalf, said the institute’s chairperson Chandra Bhushan Sharma.
The Nios is hoping to get the Common Service Centres – e-governance centres run through a scheme under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology – to con the Aadhaar verification at the time of the examination.
“We are making Aadhaar compulsory for writing the exam,” Sharma told Scroll.in. “The finger-print verification feature is still being negotiated with the CSC.” If they come to an agreement, each candidate’s fingerprints will be scanned before the examination and they will be allowed to sit only if it matches the Aadhaar record.
The Nios has also decided not to use schools that do not have CCTV cameras installed in every room as examination centres during its board exams. “The Nios does not establish or recognise schools so they are not obliged to be careful or vigilant during our exams,” he said. “We send attendances sheets with photographs but despite that impersonation is a big problem for us.”
The Nios conducts board exams in two rounds – March-April and again over September-October. In each of these rounds, around 2.5 lakh candidates write their exams in about 1,500 centres. The Nios has also set up 63 centres for examinees to take “on-demand exams” for the papers they may have failed.
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