Vyapam rewards fraud detection, attempts image makeover

Vyapam, which has been known for a massive admission and recruitment scam in Madhya Pradesh, has taken to rewarding teachers who detect fraud in examinations, honouring six of them on Friday.

Six teachers, who acted as invigilators in various public service examinations in the state, were each given a monetary award ranging from Rs.50,000 to Rs.1 lakh and a citation in a function hosted here by Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, better known by its Hindi acronym Vyapam.

The invigilators were honoured for catching impersonators in examinations for recruitment of forest wardens and prison guards.

Among those honoured were Sushil Pandey, Rehmat Ali and Deepak Chaurasia each of whom won Rs.50,000 and a citation for nabbing impostors in forest warden recruitment exam 2015.

Sunil Rakshit was awarded Rs. one lakh and a citation for sniffing out fake examinees in the prison guards recruitment exam 2015.

The board, which now avoids the name 'Vyapam' and prefers to call itself 'PEB' (professional examination board), has been encouraging online examinations in order to reduce the number of cases of fraud.

Aruna Sharma, the chairwoman of the board, said on the occasion that young people in rural areas would be trained to use computers in order to increase the uptake of online examinations.