The Assam government has announced the suspension of mobile internet services across the state on Sunday between 10 am and 1:30 PM to avoid online cheating in the written examination for Class-III government posts. The state government said it is “prudent to plug all possible loopholes including by temporarily disabling the internet” to avoid any malpractice during the exam.
Over 11,00,000 candidates are supposed to appear in the public exam at 2,305 examination centres across the state, out of which 429 are ‘sensitive’ due to their geographical location and history of cheating and other malpractices, the order stated.
It was observed that some candidates in the past resorted to using different Facebook, WhatsApp, X(Twitter), Telegram, YouTube, etc. which are based on Internet connectivity, the order read.
The Assam Government said “They do not want any loopholes in the examination process which might have the potential to create doubt in the public mind on the fairness of the recruitment process. There exists a substantial apprehension that the anti-social elements or the organised groups shall try to take advantage of the situation by resorting to rumour-mongering through social media and may try to destabilise the process of examination.”
The state government said it has “carefully examined the matter and has come to a conclusion that in the interest of holding free, fair and transparent public examination.”
In 2022, to ensure hassle-free exams, the internet services on mobile phones were shut down for four hours each in 25 districts of Assam for the examination of third- and fourth-grade posts.
The move was done to prevent question papers of the two examinations from being leaked, by the government. Several exams in the state were marred by the leak of papers.
