Mita Mukherjee
The Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE has cautioned heads of its affiliated ICSE and ISC schools, about a number of fraudulent websites appearing on the internet which are confusing students, teachers and guardians.
In an official notice, Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of CISCE advised schools not to log in to such websites.
The official website of CISCE is www.ciscde.org., the council clarified in the notice.
The fraudulent websites are: ciscse-gov.in/, cis-ce.org/, cisce.gov.in/, the notice said.
In the fake websites, the council’s logo is used and CISCE look alike pages are created that misleads the public, particularly students.
“It has been brought to the attention of the CISCE that while searching for CISCE website on the internet, a number of fraudulent websites are appearing. You are hereby cautioned and advised not to log in to these fraudulent websites as mentioned below ciscse-gov.in/, cis-ce.org/, cisce.gov.in/ The official website of CISCE is www.cisce.org,” the notice read.
The council will take necessary legal action against the wrongdoers, Arathoon said in the notice.
The CISCE regularly uses its official website for making important announcements, releasing examination time tables, publishing sample question papers, syllabus or any other important information that needs to be shared with schools, students and guardians.
The council had received complaints from a number of schools about the fake websites and how they were creating confusion among a section of students before the exam.
The 2023 ICSE and ISC examinations will start on February 27 and February 13 respectively.
With the two board examinations round the corner, most students are regularly following the council website and any wrong or incomplete information displayed on the fake websites can affect their performance in the board tests, several teachers said.
“Students are now in the habit of checking the internet to get information regarding exam time-table, syllabus or sample question papers. Students are most likely to verify whether they are checking the original site or not when a page similar to the counci’s original website pop up on the screen. Any wrong information displayed on the fake website would mislead students,” the principal of an ICSE school said.