Parents in India risk lives to help children cheat in exams

Cheating in schools is endemic across parts of India, but new pictures reveal the extreme measures some parents will take to help their children pass exams.

Hundreds of people have been seen climbing the walls of exam centres in the state of Bihar, with parents perched precariously on window ledges, flying paper planes with answers into the exam rooms.

"Should we shoot them?" asked Prashant Kumar Shahi, the state's education minister, when questioned about the photographs. More than 500 students have been expelled in recent weeks, but the authorities say they have been unable to prevent the large-scale cheating, due to the sheer number of people involved, according to India's NDTV.

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At one exam centre, police attempted to disperse the parents, but an angry mob began pelting them with stones, forcing them to retreat. Observers claim some officials were accepting bribes from parents wanting to gain access to the exam centres.

Children are currently sitting their class ten exams, India's equivalent of GCSEs. Students need to pass the test in order to get a place in upper secondary school, and eventually get a chance of attending university.

The exams are viewed as "make-or-break tests that could transform the lives of millions growing up in poverty", according to Reuters.

The images went viral in India, with the public criticising the government for failing to invest enough in the country's education system, particularly in rural areas.

Explaining why he was helping his child cheat, one father said: "These government teachers don't teach anything in schools. Most of the times they are absent. That's why we have to resort to such things to help our children."