Featured Image Credit: PTI / Charles Robertson / Alamy
Topics: Education
Jayden Collins
An Indian medical student has made one last-ditch attempt to pass a final exam, implanting a Bluetooth device into his own ear.
The student had reportedly been trying to clear the exam since repeatedly failing since his admission into the college 11 years ago.
The Bluetooth device was said to be surgically implanted into his ear and connected to a mobile phone that was found in the inner pocket of his trousers.
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Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College dean Sanjay Dixit the told The Independent that the student was caught red-handed.
"He was taking the General Medicine exam on Monday with 13 others, when a university squad of the Devi Ahilya Bai University came for a surprise check," Dr Dixit said.
"They found one student with a mobile phone and another with some Bluetooth device.
“The devices have been confiscated and their answer sheets were seized. They were given new answer sheets,” he said.
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After official questioning went underway, one of the students admitted to having a skin-coloured device fixed to his ear by an ENT surgeon.
Another student was caught with a SIM-powered device that wasn’t surgically inserted and could be removed with a pin.
The students had gone to extra efforts to conceal these devices as they were asked to submit all electronic items before entering, with an internal investigation now underway and the devices sent for examination.
They could also be facing legal action for using unfair means during the exam.
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Renu Jain, the vice-chancellor of the investigation squad that caught the students, told PTI: "We think these microphones were surgically fitted in the ears of both the students.
"Cases have been prepared against both the students. A committee of DAVV will take a decision in this regard."
Although the student had gone to extreme measures to cheat, it is far from the first time a cheating scandal has erupted in India's educational facilities.
With the number of hopeful doctors massively outweighing the number of jobs, some have taken extreme measures to stand out from the crowd by cheating.
Authorities arrested several people in 2015 after uncovering a mass-cheating ring in what is now known as the Vyapam scam.
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Students had been leaking questions, rigging answer sheets, and paying proxies to take exams for them in a scandal that rocked the state of Madhya Pradesh, resulting in 634 doctors losing their license to practice.
Whistleblower Anand Rai said tactics such as inserting a bluetooth device into the ear were used during the days of Vyapam.
“It is very easy to get Bluetooth fitted in the ears. It is attached to the ear temporarily and can be removed," Dr Rai said.
But this latest cheating scandal does beg one more question: if he was going to all of this effort, couldn't he have just studied for the exam?