No more booklets: RGUHS looks to trial writing exams on special tablets

 No more booklets: RGUHS looks to trial writing exams on special tablets

TNN | Feb 27, 2024, 06.54 AM IST

No more booklets: RGUHS looks to trial writing exams on special tablets

BENGALURU: RGUHS is planning to introduce paperless exams for its students. A pilot will be run for about 2,000 students of physiotherapy and fellowship programmes this March where answers will be written into the tablet and uploaded on the server immediately after the exam, leaving very little space for malpractice.

No more booklets: RGUHS looks to trial writing exams on spl tablets

Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) is planning to introduce paperless exams for its students. With this, the students won't write the exams on paper, but on customized tablets.

As per the university's plans, a pilot will be run for about 2,000 students of physiotherapy and fellowship programmes this March. The initiative will be extended to other programmes soon. The answers written into the tablet will be uploaded on the server immediately after the exam, leaving very little space for malpractice. There will be no change in the question paper pattern. "The issue we foresee is a mind block on whether students will be able to use the pen with ease. But we're sure it will ease once the students try it out. We saw similar resistance when we introduced peripheral screening and digital evaluation. But now, these methods are being adopted by other states and have been appreciated by the National Medical Commission," said Dr MK Ramesh, vice-chancellor of RGUHS.

The move, he said, would help not just curb malpractice in exams and retain its sanctity, but also help the environmental cause. The university is certain the process will be cost effective. "There are tabs costing Rs 8,000-10,000 that will serve no other purpose but to write exams. One tab will be used for four years by a student. We'll decide whether the same tab can be handed over to another student, depending on how much technology has advanced then," he said.

The tab will replace the cost of buying paper and transporting it, among others. The amount the varsity spends on answer booklets alone every year is Rs 7-8 crore, considering that about 17 lakh booklets are used.

RGUHS has already added a face recognition system and other AI tools to curb exam malpractice.