London: A growing number of students in England are cheating in their exams, with many using mobile phones to boost their marks, official figures revealed on Monday.
The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the examinations watchdog, found that more than 4,500 candidates were penalised for malpractice last year, an increase of more than a quarter-27 per cent on 2004.
Of these, around 1,100 students were caught smuggling mobile phones into examination rooms, the body said in an annual report.
Students caught cheating face disqualification from all or part of their exams, or the deduction of marks from their work.
The most common type of malpractice, involving 1,887 students, was smuggling cheating aides into the exam, according to the report. Around a third 1,414 of the penalised candidates took part in plagiarism, collusion or copying another's work.
Students were also penalised for exchanging suspicious information, disruptive behaviour and altering results documents. Other offences included using obscene material, failing to follow invigilators’ instructions and theft of work.
"Over recent years we have seen a noticeable rise in the number of mobile phone related incidents in examination halls across the country," chief executive of the examinations watchdog, Ken Boston said
"As we enter the summer examination season I have today written to schools and colleges to remind them of their responsibilities to impress upon students the importance of not taking mobile phones into examinations," Boston added.
Despite the rise in cheats, the overall proportion of penalised students has remained low, representing just one in every 1,500 results, or around 0.06 percent of results.
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