Bengaluru:  The rise in exam malpractices by students have prompted the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) to put in place stringent precautions for SSLC examinations which is to be held in March 2019.   

After measures such as students being frisked before entering the exam hall and complete ban on mobile phones, now KSEEB has decided to initiate a ban on wrist watches at centres where the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) exam is to be held after complaints of multiple reports of malpractice.

As watches become bluetooth-enabled, they can be linked to smart phones to find answers. Some watches have a storage unit where text files and images can be stored. Officials of the Board found there are many specifically made “cheat watches” available online for Rs. 7,000 that lure students.

Moreover, officials said wrist watches enable a more old-fashioned form of cheating, with chits concealed under the watch. Wrist watches are already banned in several competitive exams.

In order to help students keep track of time, V. Sumangala, Director of KSEEB, said all Superintendents of Examination Centres will be told to install wall clocks in each classroom of the exam centre.

“The heads of the exam centre can use their accumulated corpus fund to buy the wall clocks,” she said, adding that a circular will be issued to school managements shortly.

The move, however, has not gone down well with students. Many of them say that while the Board should ban digital watches, it should allow students to wear regular watches so that they are able to keep track of time.