The CBSE on Saturday issued bids saying it plans to implement biometric authentication in examinations to curb malpractices, unfair means and impersonation. The big move will cover nearly 1,500 examination centres across the country and close to 17 lakh students.
“The Board conducts various examinations across the country both in offline/online modes i.e., pen and paper exam or CBT mode in various selected Cities across India. Biometric Authentication services (Digital Finger-print capturing, photo capturing, Face matching with scanned photos of candidates for authentication of candidates) during Examination and post-examination are to be provided in approximately 1,200 to 1,500 examination centres per exam across the country,” says the bid document, which has been accessed by News18.
This is to curb malpractices, unfair means and impersonation to ensure smooth conduct of examinations, the board document says. “CBSE is keen to implement biometric authentication and attendance marking system to make the examination process robust by implementing Digital Finger-print capturing and Face matching (including photo capturing) of candidates by verifying Candidate’s identity on a real-time basis to monitor various activities of candidates at the examination centres across the country,” the CBSE document adds.
The CBSE said approximately 1,200 to 1,500 centres, 17 lakh candidates and four exam dates are to be covered. The project will cost about Rs 5 crore.
How will it Work?
The document says that the CBSE will provide centre-wise data (roll numbers, photos, name, exam date/shift etc.) of all registered candidates to the selected agency which will then use this data for fingerprint/photo capturing and face matching and shall enable strong mechanism for candidate verification during and subsequent stages of the process.
“The agency will have to install state-of-the-art devices for digital fingerprint or photo capturing along with trained technical manpower to carry out this task at each & every examination centre during the conduct of examination,” CBSE says.
CBSE has also specified that there would be real-time attendance monitoring. It has said that the QR code or barcode containing the roll number on the admit card of the candidate should be scanned or read to auto-fetch the candidate details from the application database provided by the CBSE. In case, the QR/barcode on the admit card is missing or not scannable, then manual entry of roll number with candidate information has to be made.
“Thereafter, Fingerprint/photo capturing of a candidate and Face matching by the device shall be done at the Security gate before the beginning of the examination,” CBSE says.
The Board says all activities should be completed before the conclusion of the examination and the entire database and application server will be at two different seismic zones within India, making one site as DC (data centre) and the other site as DR (disaster recovery). “The agency should deploy a de-duplication algorithm across the database to avoid duplicating candidates’ records. The face matching should be performed between two images (provided during the online registration and the other captured on the day of the exam),” the document says.
The agency will also perform physical verification of the candidate’s photo with the application database provided by CBSE at the time of security gate entry. After completion of the activity, the agency will hand over all captured data to the CBSE on the day of the examination.
The agency will also depute at least one fingerprint/photo capturing device and face-matching device on every 60 candidates during the examination and post-examination stages as and when scheduled by the CBSE.
“The Agency will have to ensure that all the devices must be functional and have captured fingerprint and photographs of each candidate who has appeared in the examination at each centre,” the document says.
The agency shall maintain strict secrecy and confidentiality and will not divulge any information relating to assignment or examination to any third party or person, the document mentions. The CBSE has also advised the selected agency to visit all the centres well in advance to get acquainted with the available facilities at the centre.
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