On 18 November, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) released proposals and announced its intention to introduce biometric authentication in exams in an effort to reduce misconduct, unfair practices and impersonation, News 18 reported. The significant change is going to impact about 17 lakh students and 1,500 test centres nationwide.
The news agency was able to obtain a document which read, “The Board conducts various examinations across the country both in offline/online modes i.e., pen and paper exam or CBT mode in various selected Cities across India. Biometric Authentication services (Digital Fingerprint capturing, photo capturing, Face matching with scanned photos of candidates for authentication of candidates) during Examination and post-examination are to be provided in approximately 1,200 to 1,500 examination centres per exam across the country.”
According to the board, the measure’s objective is to prevent malpractice, unfair methods and impersonation to guarantee a smooth examination process. The document added, “CBSE is keen to implement biometric authentication and attendance marking system to make the examination process robust by implementing Digital Finger-print capturing and Face matching (including photo capturing) of candidates by verifying Candidate’s identity on a real-time basis to monitor various activities of candidates at the examination centres across the country.”
CBSE said that four exams, 1,200–1,500 centres and 17 lakh applicants are expected to be covered under this initiative. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 5 crore.
The utilisation of the system
The CBSE document stated that a specified agency would use centre-specific data (roll numbers, photos, names, exam dates/shifts, etc.) from all registered candidates that the CBSE has received. This agency is going to employ the data for face matching, fingerprinting and photo capture during the exams, enabling a robust mechanism for candidate verification both during and after the process.
CBSE noted, “The agency will have to install state-of-the-art devices for digital fingerprint or photo capturing along with trained technical manpower to carry out this task at each & every examination centre during the conduct of the examination.” Furthermore, the CBSE has stated that there would be real-time attendance tracking. It has been stated that in order to automatically retrieve the candidate details from the application database supplied by the CBSE, the candidate’s admit card’s barcode or QR code including their roll number should be scanned or read.
It is necessary to manually enter the roll number and candidate information if the QR code or barcode on the admit card is missing or cannot be scanned. “Thereafter, fingerprint/photo capturing of a candidate and face matching by the device shall be done at the security gate before the beginning of the examination.”
The board stipulated that all tasks be finished prior to the examination’s conclusion. The database and application server are going to be located in two distinct seismic zones in India, with one location designated as DR (disaster recovery) and the other as a DC (data centre). “The agency should deploy a de-duplication algorithm across the database to avoid duplicating candidates’ records. The face matching should be performed between two images (provided during the online registration and the other captured on the day of the exam).”
At the time of security gate access, the specified agency also has to physically verify that the candidate’s photo matches the application database that CBSE provided. On the day of the exam, the agency would turn over all collected data to the CBSE upon completion of the task.
In addition, during the examination and post-examination phases, the agency would assign a minimum of one fingerprint/photo-capturing device and one face-matching device for every sixty candidates, to ensure that there are enough devices for quick entry of the students. “The Agency will have to ensure that all the devices must be functional and have captured fingerprints and photographs of each candidate who has appeared in the examination at each centre.”
According to the document, the agency would uphold absolute confidence and secrecy and won’t give any information about assignments or examinations to any individual or third party. In order to familiarise themselves with the facilities offered at each centre, the designated agency has also been encouraged by the CBSE to visit each one well in advance.
Apart from class 10 and class 12 board examinations, CBSE conducts the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) and the Class X optional proficiency test. It used to conduct several competitive exams earlier, including the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) (now merged with IIT JEE), All India Pre-Medical test/ Pre-Dental Entrance Test (replaced with NEET) and UGC NET, which are now conducted by the National Testing Agency.
