Silly anti-cheating masks in university go viral

Taking a cue from a Bangkok university, students at Bicol University College of Engineering in the Philippines went viral for silly “anti-cheating” masks they wore for exams. A faculty member decided to bring some levity to the problem of cheating in schools by allowing her engineering students to design masks to prevent cheating, no matter how ridiculous they were.

And students went full-on silly with the assignment. Some wore Spartan helmets, others wore headbands like Naruto. One student wore a mask of Jollibee, the popular Filipino fast-food chain. Other students used household items like egg crates or clothes hangers. Some went for Halloween-style anime designs made of cardboard. One student was pictured wearing what appeared to be (hopefully clean) underwear over his face. The anti-cheating masks incorporated some kind of blinders, usually made of paper, designed to stop students from sneaking a peek at the exam paper of their neighbour.

The teacher posted their valiant anti-cheating mask efforts and it quickly went viral, with over 4,000 people sharing the post already. She said on the Facebook post that she was surprised at the creativity and fun the students had with the assignment and took the opportunity to discourage people from cheating.

“I still believe that the best way is to have [the] integrity to not cheat with or without the hats. I really love and [I’m] proud of my students because their engineering midterm exams can be pressuring and stressful, yet they managed to add some colour and fun. Thank you very much, students. You make me proud.”

The idea was inspired by a more controversial post Coconuts covered back in 2013 that showed students at Bangkok’s Kasetsart University wearing anti-cheating blinders made of computer printer paper to prevent cheating during midterms. The photo caused an uproar when it was uploaded to an alumni Facebook page and was quickly deleted.

The university later scrambled for excuses, saying they will no longer use anti-cheating helmets and that they were designed as an interactive lesson on ethics by agro-industry faculty students. The faculty’s dean said there was no rampant cheating and students made the hats and wore them voluntarily.

After condemnation and backlash, they discontinued the lesson and the anti-cheating helmets. The response to the more jovial anti-cheating masks in the Philippines seems to be a lot more positive.