The professor said her initial request had been for students to make a “simple” design out of paper. Prof Mandane-Ortiz said some of the students made such innovative headgear in “just five minutes” while some students donned hats, helmets or Halloween masks.

“The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values” – William Ralph Inge. Congratulations students because many appreciated the creative anti-cheating hats you made not only national but international. The anti-cheating hat is a reminder of integrity. But my students added more colourful and deep meaning that “We can learn while having fun”. Thank you, students, for giving happiness and inspiration to the whole world,” the professor wrote in one of her social media posts.
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“Thank you very much to all who appreciated and made me happy because of the Anti-cheating Hat of my students. So proud of my students. Congrats,” she wrote in another post.

Mandane-Ortiz told the news daily that the idea behind the anti-cheating hats was inspired by a technique used in Thailand some years ago. In 2013, an image went viral showing a room of university students in Bangkok taking the exam while wearing “ear flaps” sheets of paper stuck to either side of their heads so as not to peek at others’ copies.

Earlier, during a chemistry exam at Bhagat Pre-University College in Haveri, Karnataka, India, students were made to wear boxes, which were cut open on one side. This too was taken to prevent cheating. After the images went viral on social media, the college received flak and the administrator apologised to district officials. He had said that the school used the anti-cheating measure on an “experimental basis” after hearing of its use somewhere else.