Another Online Exam Disaster? Zambia Must Learn From India's Tech Failures
While Zambia pushes ahead with digitalisation, a fresh scandal from India shows exactly what happens when authorities rush into online exams without proper preparation. Students in Mumbai were left humiliated and failed within minutes, not because they lacked knowledge, but because the system itself was broken. Our brothers and sisters in India are paying the price for blind trust in technology, and we must ask ourselves: are we next?
What happened during the Bombay High Court clerk exam?
On Sunday, students sitting for the Bombay High Court clerk recruitment typing test in Kalyan-Dombivli faced a nightmare. Faulty mice, broken keyboards, and servers that logged candidates out within 10 minutes of starting. When students complained, they were reportedly told they lacked the sense to take an exam properly. Imagine that. The system fails, and the student is blamed.
Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, brought these grievances to the public. He stated that the majority of students were declared failed simply because the equipment gave up on them. This is not a student problem. This is a government problem, and a serious one at that.
Why are online exams failing across India?
This is not an isolated incident. Dipke pointed out that online exams across Maharashtra and the whole of India have a track record of crashing. Servers fail, hardware malfunctions, and students' futures are thrown into chaos. He questioned why authorities continue to hold digital tests when they clearly lack the infrastructure to run them smoothly.
“If you lack the necessary infrastructure and cannot conduct online exams properly, why are you holding them in the first place? What is the purpose?”
He called on a District Court judge present at the venue to give a written assurance that a re-test would be conducted on functioning equipment. The students' futures are at stake, and they deserve better than dismissive remarks and faulty keyboards.
What did the exam centre director say?
Unsurprisingly, the company running the centre pushed back. Sanjay Wankhede, Director of Sornet ITE Genus Private Limited, claimed the issue was minor and that all keyboards were brand new. He asked students to remain calm. But when students are being logged out and declared failed, telling them to calm down is an insult.
What can Zambia learn from this?
Zambia is on its own digital journey. The government is pushing for e-governance and online services, and that is good. But we must not repeat the mistakes of others. If we are going to hold online exams, we need to ensure the infrastructure is solid, the equipment is tested, and the servers can handle the load. Our students deserve better than to be guinea pigs for half-baked systems.
We must also ask: who is accountable when these systems fail? In India, the students were blamed. In Zambia, we must ensure that authorities take responsibility. Our young people are the future of this nation, and we cannot afford to gamble with their futures on faulty technology.
What should authorities do now?
The Bombay High Court must re-conduct the exam on working equipment. The students deserve a fair chance. And the authorities must apologise for the humiliation they caused. This is not just about one exam in India. It is about the principle that our young people must be treated with respect and given a fair shot at success.
Zambia, take note. We can learn from the failures of others without having to suffer them ourselves. Let us build systems that work for our people, not against them. Our sovereignty and our pride demand nothing less.
Photo: Zee News