DoTE to use CCTV to watch tech exams
DoTE, which comes under the Higher Education Department, conducts technical examinations for typewriting, shorthand and accountancy twice a year across the State.
Directorate of Technical Education (DOTE)
CHENNAI: Doing away with traditional methods of exam surveillance, the Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE), which conducts technical exams including that of typewriting and shorthand, will equip examination centres with CCTV surveillance cameras with audio, video recording and advanced live web streaming facilities.
DoTE, which comes under the Higher Education Department, conducts technical examinations for typewriting, shorthand and accountancy twice a year across the State. It also conducts diploma semester exams for polytechnic students. A senior DoTE official, seeking anonymity, said cases of irregularities were reported in the conduct of the technical examinations in the past. "To make the system foolproof, it has been decided to monitor the exams live by the authorities concerned," he said. Key features of web streaming include video recording by the cameras in H.264 compression (high quality) and audio recording of at least 4 kbps in good quality, he said, adding that the light and glare will be minimal and capable of zooming in as per the requirements, the official said: "During recording, the examination station number, hall number and timestamp will be visible clearly in camera view". The official said the recording will be done using the standard browsers which include the latest and up to four versions of Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari."The web camera will have the facility of local recording, with a minimum of three-megapixel resolution," he said adding, "It will have night vision capability as well". He said the agency, that will be appointed to execute the project, will ensure that the live feeds are transmitted securely to the server and then to the officials concerned.
Pointing out that detailed training material will be developed by the agency as part of the project, the official said the appointed experts will conduct the necessary training for the examination hall personnel to ensure proper live web streaming processes are done. "The project is expected to be started in a couple of months," he claimed.Welcoming the move, L Senthil, president of TN Typewriting and Computer Institute Association, said around 1.5 lakh candidates appear for typewriting exams (both English and Tamil).
"For shorthand exams, there will be about 10,000 candidates".
