Cheating ‘culture’

The disheartening reality of our country’s educational landscape is that no institution seems free from scandal. The recent Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) fiasco exemplifies this breakdown, with allegations of widespread cheating casting a shadow over the September examination. When a suspiciously high number of students in Sindh achieved unusually high scores, rumours of a ‘paper leak’ quickly surfaced. The outcry from students and parents, frustrated by the tainted results, led the Sindh High Court to order a retake of the test. The provincial cabinet has allocated over Rs232 million for this purpose, waiving fees for students who previously appeared in the September exam. While these measures are intended to restore integrity to the process, they do little to address the systemic issues that have eroded the foundations of our education system. The rot runs deep in an education sector that is woefully neglected and unregulated. At one time, parents sought refuge in private schools, believing they offered a better standard of education. But even these institutions have suffered from years of governmental neglect and lack of oversight. Today, countless schools and coaching centers prioritise rote learning over comprehension, reinforcing a ‘cheating culture’ that prioritises exam scores over real understanding. Students are often unprepared for college entrance exams, where a multiple-choice format demands conceptual knowledge instead of memorised passages. This disconnect forces students to seek shortcuts, leading to reliance on unscrupulous practices and enabling opportunists to exploit the system for profit.

While cheating is certainly at the heart of the problem, it is not the only factor driving the MDCAT controversy. Test predictability and lax oversight have exacerbated the issue. In our exam system, innovation is a rare commodity. Entrance tests often reuse similar questions each year, making it easier for test-preparation centers to “predict” exam content. Students spend months preparing with these insights, even beginning as early as Grade XII to gain an edge. The issue is compounded by a widespread lack of invigilation at testing centres, where disinterested proctors often turn a blind eye to students discussing answers – a dynamic that enables cheating rather than deters it.

Authorities must confront these underlying problems if they hope to rehabilitate our education sector, which has been further weakened by the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic’s disruptions robbed students of meaningful learning experiences, leaving them more inclined to pursue shortcuts to success. Reinstating the value of education requires swift action to punish those responsible for breaches like the MDCAT paper leak – both those who leaked it and those who paid for access. Unless there are real consequences for enabling this ‘cheating culture’, any reforms will be cosmetic at best. As we prepare for another MDCAT exam, let this be more than an exercise in damage control. Instead, it should serve as a rallying call for comprehensive education reform. This culture of cheating will only end when we enforce accountability across the board and prioritise an education system that values learning, innovation, and integrity over shortcuts and corruption. Until then, our institutions will remain vulnerable, and we will continue to squander resources on repeat examinations for a system that has lost its respect for education.