UP Engineering student council condemns alleged board exam cheating

MANILA, Philippines – “Living by the principles of honor and excellence, we cannot tolerate these alleged acts of dishonesty, unjustness and fraud,” the University of the Philippines-Diliman Engineering Student Council (ESC) said in response to the board exam cheating scandal.

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) is yet to comment on the issue.

On September 29 to 30, BS Mechanical Engineering graduates nationwide took their board examinations prepared by the PRC. Claims of cheating followed the two-day affair, starting an uproar among netizens.

The UP ESC highlighted the following claims circulating online:

1. Rampant cheating incidents transpired on the two-day board examination
   
2. Necessary information such as tables, charts, and diagrams were not provided by the PRC, making some of the problems unsolvable
3. When a number of board exam takers asked for the lacking necessary information to solve the problems, some of the proctors suggested that the examinees just guess which ones of the choices are the right answers, I instead of actually solving for them

The student council added: “As future engineers, we are the pillars of nation building in our country. To be able to fully realize the potential of development and sustainability in the Philippines, practicing one’s profession must be founded on integrity.”

“Professional licenses are obtained in our country as a measure of reliability to ensure safety in the line of work where the lives of people are at stake. Respecting the board examinations is one step to achieve greater standards in different fields of practice and guarantees that these standards are upheld with utmost integrity,” it said. 

The alleged cheating would could have been prevented, the student council stressed, if the board exams were “organized and handled properly.”

It also called on the PRC to immediately investigate the incident. – Rappler.com