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Backstory: I caught my school (private secondary) grade 9 student cheating in examination (third terminal). So, I took his copy and told him to go out but he didn't and kept standing in his seat begging for me to give his copy back. He kept saying "Sorry Sir! I won't do it again" and I repeatedly said not to disturb others and go out, which he still did not. All this happened in his Compulsory Mathematics examination (3 hrs) just before 2nd hour.
     I hold his copy for about 25 mins while he stood there misty-eyed, so I gave him his copy back and told him not to do that again. He thanked me and got back to writing. Even after this examination he said sorry for his behavior. As a teacher I haven't had such incident before as this is only my 2nd year teaching. Only few of my colleagues knows about this and I am thinking of telling about this incident in our meeting held after this examination is over.

Note: This is an internal examination taken by our school and not a final examination. We haven't had this type of issue in my school that I know of.

So, how should I have handled this situation? Should I have been more strict than I was in this particular case?

I am from Nepal.

Ram Chandra Giri
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  • How severe was his cheating? How did it look like in detail? – Nemgathos Jan 06 '18 at 14:49
  • @Nemgathos How would you define what is severe in case of cheating, he had small cheats paper inside his main copy. – Ram Chandra Giri Jan 06 '18 at 14:58
  • Well, this seems to be brazen somehow. So he knew what he was doing and he did it on purpose. Do you know the reason why he did it? Would he fail the class if he does not pass this test? Was that the motivation for his cheating? – Nemgathos Jan 06 '18 at 15:03
  • @Nemgathos I am not mathematics teacher (just an invigilator) and he might have passed. But instead of his reason I would like to know how should I have handled this situation. – Ram Chandra Giri Jan 06 '18 at 15:07
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    Aren't there appropriate school rules and regulations to follow in such cases? – Anne Daunted GoFundMonica Jan 06 '18 at 17:35
  • Is there a way to find out? – Anne Daunted GoFundMonica Jan 06 '18 at 17:42
  • @AnneDaunted I should have done more research before asking this question. So, close voted for now if I could edit it to make specific and on-topic I will surely do that. Thanks. – Ram Chandra Giri Jan 06 '18 at 18:00
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    @JarkoDubbeldam Academia is for higher education (college, postgrad, etc.) only so this would not qualify. There is a ["cheating" tag](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/cheating) where OP might find some useful advice though. – Em C Jan 08 '18 at 13:20

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I am from Russia and here we think different. I'm far from my school years and academy but I remember it all. No matter how badly he cheated it's not good to act like you did in front of the whole class. His friends and other students shouldn't see him in such a state, it's bad.

Firstly, it's best to ask him out for a minute and explain to him what he did wrong. That is what our teachers have always done. We had a teacher who was acting like you did and we hated her really, the whole school did. It's not what you'd want. Whenever people start hating you they won't love your lessons and they won't like anything in your class.

You've got to be strict but you need to try to be in their skin too. Of course you need to give a student a chance to make up for their mistake, bad behaviour or anything else.

It's best to try to remember what it felt like when you were their age. Of course cheating is prohibited at all costs but you need to make it be a father to son conversation about right and wrong.

SovereignSun
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  • ++, Obviously there is differences in case of Nepal and Russia because I was thinking should I have been more strict and brought this issue directly to principal. – Ram Chandra Giri Jan 06 '18 at 15:30
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    @RamChandraGiri No, no. It's not an issue to be taken to the principal. He didn't injure anyone, he didn't break any piece of equipment, he didn't steal. He simply wanted to make things easier for himself, it's a normal thing among anyone anywhere. – SovereignSun Jan 06 '18 at 15:54