Using religion to deceive !

The University of Wollongong has signalled that it intends to use identity checks to make sure that the person sitting examinations is the student enrolled and not an impostor.   This has provoked the usual protests about the sanctity of religious head coverings.

The university is well aware that some ingenious ruses have been in play to cheat on exam results.  A lucrative scheme exists to substitute those with advanced academic qualifications for struggling students who might otherwise fail examinations, and in this electronic age all sorts of hidden communication equipment can be used to supply answers to those within the examination hall.

When a student presents to sit an examination he or she will be facially compared with the photograph on their university identity card.  This may require the removal of religious head coverings and to achieve the required modesty the student will be taken to a private room and will be examined by a person of the same gender.

It is expected that this will be challenged by some people who will see it as an intrusion on their religious rights, so perhaps the university should consider an alternative to be offered at the time each person applies for university enrolment.

Those who claim that their religion requires face covering could be offered an alternative method of identification - by way of having their finger prints recorded.   When presenting for an examination, they would be required to handle an object that records finger prints and this would be later checked against finger print computer records.   Should the prints not match, disqualification of the exam results would follow.

Mobile phones are forbidden in examination rooms, and the issue of hidden electronic aids should be policed by all students being " swept " by  a probe that detects electronic activity.    This system works at airports at at court entrances, and there is no reason why it should not prevent deception in examination rooms.

We live in an electronic age and if religion presents an identification problem we need to look beyond merely asking to see a persons face.

And more importantly, the use of such a system denies religion being used to cheat - and obtain unearned qualifications.