Shooting the Messenger: Banning Telegram doesn’t solve the problem of exam paper leaks

In a country as corrupt as India, can it be a surprise that exam papers get leaked? Knowing as we do about the state of affairs, what can be more deluded than making one exam the cornerstone of the futures of millions of students. The Indian state is like a Titanic with giant holes in its hull and the only reason the NEET debacle led to such outrage was that access to leaked papers became too wide­spread to ignore. Now that re-examination is being held, what do the authorities do? They temporarily restrict the messenger service Telegram, a medium through which the leaked papers were distributed earlier.

Are those conducting the examination now indirectly conceding that the papers have leaked again, but they don’t want too many people to get hold of them? Either the papers are secure, or they are not. If it is the former, then it shouldn't matter if Telegram groups ex­ist. If there are people falsely claiming they have the papers and defrauding students, as is the stated reason for the ban, then it is for the police to treat it as a crime. The examination itself has nothing to do with it. Why protect students who want to cheat by denying access to others who use Tele­gram for legitimate ends?

The reason, however, why Telegram has been banned is that the authorities just can’t be sure. This is a countrywide examination with millions of question papers that crisscross the country. From printing presses to professors, the potential sieves are many. The most inexplicable thinking, however, is that because it hap­pened on Telegram earlier, it will continue there. The world behaves with more cunning. Just as systems evolve, systems of corruption do too. It is the easiest thing in the world to cre­ate an alternative channel, like Signal or WhatsApp, to sell or distribute the papers, or to perpetuate the scam.

Solving the problem needs an overhaul of the cur­rent examination system with students being evaluated throughout the year. That ought to be the measure of how deserving they are to get admissions to institutions. It is easier to give an order that looks like preventive action but makes little difference.