February 9,2018:

UP's notorious 'Nakal Mafia' is known to run copying rackets in the examinations. Illegal means employed by them range from "impersonation to tender to purchase of exam centre by mafia to duplicate printing of first page of the answer copies."

More than 6 lakh students of the 66 lakh-odd who registered for Uttar Pradesh Board exams have skipped their papers in first three days of the cycle.

UP Deputy CM who is also the Secondary Education Minister, Dinesh Sharma, credits the Government's crackdown on education mafia operating in Uttar Pradesh as reason behind the trend.

He further added that."About 80% of these examinees were from outside UP. They enrolled themselves in schools which they never attended. In previous years, such examinees were seen only during the examinations.

He stated that,"Students enrolled in schools where no teaching-learning took place the entire year, too, dropped out this year. Quite a high number of students who are promised 'sure success' by education mafia have also dropped out".

He stated that,"Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Board, too, echoes a similar belief, and expects attendance to fall further given the "strict measures" against cheating that have been adopted".

Deputy CM stated that the money involved in the Education Scams is "much higher than in any big industry" to the tune of "hundred of crores of rupees."

Board estimates that 6,33,217 students have not turned up over the first three days of the exams. Of these, 3,79,782 were high school students, and 2,53,435 study in the intermediate.

2,89,308 students were not present on day one of this year's examination, and more than 2.15 lakh on day two.

Going by this current trend, it expects more than 7.5 lakh students to have dropped out by the end of the exam cycle.

In fact, number of absentees uptill now has already crossed total number of drop outs from last year.

Measures taken by State Government to disrupt mafia's operations includes "online allotment of examination centres, installation of CCTV cameras at the Schools and roping in UP Police's Special Task Force."

He added that he has "no complaints" against teachers, and that they even "help us as informers in cracking down on education mafia."

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