Bihar students caught using mobile phones during exam, headmistress faces action

Several students were allegedly caught using mobile phones while appearing for their half-yearly examination at an upgraded secondary school in Bihar’s Begusarai district, prompting departmental action against the school headmistress and an inquiry into the examination arrangements.

The incident took place on September 22 at the Upgraded Secondary School in Mokhtiyarpur under Bhagwanpur block. A video circulating on social media shows several students seated in the examination hall with mobile phones while attempting their question papers.

No invigilator is visible in the viral footage, raising questions over supervision during the examination.

Following the circulation of the video, Begusarai District Education Officer Manoj Kumar said the school headmistress had been served a show-cause notice and her salary withheld pending an inquiry.

“This is from Mokhtiyarpur. It is an upgraded secondary school. We also saw it yesterday. We immediately issued a notice to the HM and withheld her salary. An inquiry will be conducted and we are getting it done immediately. We will find out who was performing invigilation duty there and who was responsible,” Kumar said.

He said the inquiry would establish who was responsible for invigilation at the time of the incident and that action would be taken against those found responsible.

Headmistress cites shortage of teachers

School headmistress Lucy Kumari attributed the lapse to a shortage of teachers, saying examinations for multiple classes were being conducted at the same time.

She said examinations for Classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 were underway, while only three teachers were working in the Plus Two section.

“There was a lot of crowd yesterday as the examinations for Classes 9, 10 and 11 were also going on. There was a shortage of teachers. It is possible that the teachers were busy elsewhere with paperwork, during which a student may have taken out a mobile phone,” she said.

Kumari acknowledged that students should not have been allowed to carry mobile phones into the examination hall and admitted that the incident represented a lapse on the school’s part.

“Teachers had been deputed, but there are only three teachers working in Plus Two and examinations were being held for four classes. The teachers may have been busy making attendance or with some paperwork, and this happened during that time,” she said.

She said the school accepted responsibility for the lapse and assured that stricter attention would be given to examination supervision in the future.

“We accept that there was a mistake. Taking a mobile phone into the examination and giving the exam is not right. If such a mistake has happened, it will not happen again. We will pay attention to this going forward,” she said.