March 26th, 2015
Photo Credit: NDTV
For this week’s blog, I’m going to keep it short and sweet and share with you the true story of hundreds of parents and family members endangering their own lives by scaling walls outside the examination hall in a town in India. No, these parents weren’t risking their lives to rescue their children from a fiery inferno or deranged terrorist. They were scaling the walls to help their children by feeding them the answers to the questions on the final examinations. Yes, you heard me correctly. The parents were complicit in cheating with their children. This brazen act of collective cheating was caught on tape and if you don’t believe me, here’s the video for your own eyes to see: YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14suVlM0FNk
For more on this cheating extravaganza, read the article by the Independent UK newspaper: Parents risk lives climbing exam buildings to help hundreds of Indian students cheat
In the words of James E. Faust: “Cheating in school is a form of self-deception. We go to school to learn. We cheat ourselves when we coast on the efforts and scholarship of someone else.”
Frustrated Evaluator
The Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc. (ACEI), was founded in 1994 and is based in Los Angeles, CA, USA. ACEI provides a number of services that include evaluations of international academic credentials for U.S. educational equivalence, translation, verification, and professional training programs. ACEI is a Charter and Endorsed Member of the Association of International Credential Evaluators. For more information, visit www.acei-global.org.
ACEI-Global 
One thing that is unbelievable is that people are so desperate to create an opportunity for success for a family member. We in the U.S. are appalled at this behavior, but we also fail to comprehend the extreme poverty and lack of opportunity that would motivate such behavior.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone
Being an educational counsellor in India, let me remind everybody that India is a huge country, almost 20% of world population. This is one aspect which the vigilant Indian media has highlighted, to ensure steps are taken to stop this practice.
India is also the birth place of fantastic entrepreneurial talent, acclaimed corporate people and remarkable social organisations.
Believe me, all of us in larger metros are equally horrified to see how the system is gamed in certain areas in India.
Thank you, Kiran and Beth for your comments. So that we don’t think cheating happens only in India, here’s what happened right here in the USA: where 11 educators in Atlanta, GA have been convicted in a test cheating controversy: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/01/educators-convicted-atlan_n_6987044.html
Alas, cheating knows no borders and is a worldwide problem.
Just came across this article continuing the discussion on the recent cheating scandal caught on film at Bihar, India. http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20150326203322304