India Students Under Fire For IELTS Cheating Probe, Unable To Speak English In Court

Authorities in India are now investigating a fake certification scam linked to the English Language Testing System or IELTS. It appears that surveillance cameras at select exam centers were shut down, believed to be part of helping students get higher scores in their assessments.

The issue dates back to March when U.S. border officials arrested six Indian students to try to illegally enter the country from Canada, SCMP reported. The men were reportedly aged between 19 to 21 years old.

The men appeared before a court in the United States but were unable to communicate with the judge in English. They needed the aid of a Hindi translator despite getting high IELTS scores.

It was added that of the six, four of them obtained a grade of 6.5 to 7 on a nine-point scale. This led the US consulate general in Mumbai to direct the Gujarat police in probing the four individuals who took the test at a center in the Mehsana district.

Police added that the four men took the test at a center in the town of Navsari in September. After that, they traveled to Canada on student visas in March.

“The manager of the banquet hall in Navsari, which was hired for the exam, said supervisors had turned off CCTV cameras before the exam,” Police inspector Bhavesh Rathod said. “This proves there was no transparency and something was definitely suspicious.”

As a result, the whole issue has led to more inquiries on the malpractices at seven more centers in different parts of Gujarat. Among the illegal practices made were impostors sitting on their behalf to take the exams.

Authorities added that more than 900 people are suspected to have deceitfully obtained high IELTS scores this year, paying as much as $17,700 each.

The current row is not the first time that India’s education sector has been hit with such a controversy. In 2021, hundreds of alumni of Manav Bharti University in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh were under fire after potential employers pressured them into proving their qualifications.