Shreyosi Chakraborty

The year 2021 has been a whirlwind for students alike. Oscillating between online and hybrid teaching, proctored and physical examinations, with constant learning loss lingering in maximum stratas of the society owing to India’s “digital divide”, changes in examination patterns and on top of it fighting against a number of examination scams and paper leaks, the year has seen many events unfurling in this sector.

Let us re-visit a few of the remarkable educational events of 2021. 

NDA to admit its first batch of women cadets:

Making a strong move on gender equality, the National Defence Academy (NDA) will welcome its first-ever batch of women cadets in January 2023 after they sit for the entrance exam in May 2022. The development comes after the Supreme Court asked the Centre to allow women to appear for the NDA examination.

Sainik schools set to welcome girls for on-campus classes:

This year saw girl students attend in-person classes for the first time ever in many Sainik Schools across the country for the academic year 2021-22. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said on August 15, that after a successful pilot was carried out in Mizoram, all Sainik schools will offer admissions to girl students. Currently, there are 33 Sainik Schools, operational under the Sainik Schools Society under the Ministry of Defence.  

Kerala government takes the first step in gender-neutral uniforms:

Valayanchirangara government Lower Primary School, near Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district, Kerala, which has a strength of 754 students took the first step towards gender neutrality and introduced a new uniform for their students– a 3/4th shorts and shirt, irrespective of the gender. The new dress code was planned in 2018 and was introduced in the lower primary section of the school and this academic year, when the schools were reopened after the pandemic induced lockdown, it was extended to all students.

CBSE’s Changed Pattern:

The Central Board of Secondary Education introduced a new pattern for its academic session 2021-2022 in which examinations will be held twice a year with a 50 per cent syllabus for each. The first term examination will be a 90-minute exam with case-based and assertion reasoning type multiple-choice questions. The second term will be held in March-April which will be a two-hour-long exam with both long and short questions.

School dropouts:

According to a Right to Education Forum policy brief at the start of the year, about 10 million girls in India were at the risk of dropping out. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had said in August that around 15 crore children were out of the education system then. The dropout rate for India at the secondary school level stood at 17 per cent with four states recording up to 30 per cent drop out rates as per the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) report. 

Bengaluru Government School to launch satellite:

Government Boys High School in Malleshwaram is all set to launch a satellite, the first of its kind to be done by any government school in the country. This is planned to be executed in 2022. Higher education minister, Dr C N Ashwath Narayan had announced this earlier in the year. Students of this school will be involved in launching 75 satellites, an initiative that will be held as part of the 75^th independence day celebrations held next year.

Major Exam Scams/Question paper leaks: 

The year 2021 has unearthed a series of examination scams/question paper leaks of which National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) is one of the biggest. Questions have been raised on the transparency of the government examination system but nothing changed as the year’s last week too saw another important examination’s question paper being leaked on December 26. Ministry of Education’s UGC NET Hindi paper was also found to be leaked. We do not know if this means that our examination system has completely failed and there is absolutely no room for conduction of a fair examination. Time and 2022 might have the answer.

Let us take a look at the number of examination question paper leaks/scams/fraudulent activities that have shaken our trust in the government and its education system.

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2021: The medical entrance exam, has been a subject of controversy this year. After many cancelled attempts due to Covid, the exam had finally taken place on September 12. But even before the exam took place, reports claimed the question paper had been leaked and was circulating on social media platforms. 

The Rajasthan Police lodged a series of cases this week when a NEET paper was allegedly leaked in the state capital Jaipur. Eight people, including three students, were arrested in the city for cutting a Rs 35-lakh deal to obtain the question paper. The accused include the administrator of the Rajasthan Institute of Engineering and Technology and two owners of coaching academies. Investigators say one of the toppers of the 2010 medical entrance exam in Rajasthan has been running the racket in the state. Students allegedly paid between Rs 20 to 25 lakh to get their papers written.

Maharashtra State Council of Examinations Commissioner suspended: Commissioner of the Maharashtra State Council of Examinations (MSCE), Tukaram Supe, was suspended and was kept inside police custody for allegedly tampering with the results of the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) 2020. Pune police had recovered unaccounted cash and gold ornaments amounting to Rs two crore from Supe’s kin’s residence. The police had already seized Rs 88 lakh from Supe’s residence on December 18.

UPTET: The Uttar Pradesh Teachers Eligibility Test (UPTET) 2021 exam was also cancelled on November 28 after the paper went viral on several WhatsApp groups. More than 30 people were arrested in the connection.

More than 30 have been arrested in connection with the paper leak of the UPTET 2021 examination.

REET: Five people were arrested in Bikaner for allegedly attempting to cheat in the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET)-2021 exam held on September 26. They were caught with Bluetooth devices fitted in slippers. Even though there was a shutdown of all internet services owing to the examination, yet the examination saw fraudulent activities take place. Five people were arrested in Bikaner after being caught wearing specially designed slippers fitted with Bluetooth devices.

Seven others were also arrested from different places in connection with fraud in the REET exam. The state government suspended two senior officials and 13 employees of the education department

Gujarat Subordinate Services Selection Board: GSSSB written exam for the recruitment of 186 head clerks was held at different centres across the state on December 12, 2021, with nearly 88,000 aspirants appearing for the test.

The Gujarat police have arrested six people allegedly involved in leaking the question paper. The accused had managed to acquire the question paper before the exam and thereafter, they sold it to the aspirants for nearly Rs 15 lakh and also helped them with solving the paper at various locations. 

Also Read: Major events of 2021