Students cheating on tests is as natural and inevitable as the sunrise, and with the aid of technology like smartphones there are even more ingenious ways to get around failing.  It’s a global problem with no solution in sight.

However, it looks like one innovative teacher has found a simple, cheap, and seemingly foolproof way to curtail their students from cheating.  This is based on a photo that is making the rounds via Twitter recently.

According to the tweet, the photo you see above is that of a classroom in India.  However, it’s difficult to say for sure since everyone is wearing what appear to be manila folders on their heads.

At first glance, our instinct is to chuckle at this ridiculous looking scene, but when you take a moment to think about it, it’s really an all-encompassing method to prevent cheating.  If this is India, then clearly classroom space is a commodity wherein a student’s eye need only wander slightly to reach their neighbor’s sheet.

This device not only limits student’s line of sight to their own paper, but it aids the teacher’s monitoring too.  By having the manila folders strapped to their heads, even the slightest suspicious movement can be easily spotted.  This means that even that subtle nodding movement of the head while checking Wikipedia on an iPhone is magnified 10-fold.

The best part is that this method is affordable for even the poorest schools. Manila folders cost about $7 for 100, which should be enough to cover 3 entire classrooms, not to mention that schools probably get a better deal on them.  At that price, we imagine it’s just a matter of time before this image and the concept behind it gets in the hands of school board members everywhere.

So take a good look at this photo, because it’s destined to be the future of education.

Source:  Twitter via Byoukan Sunday (Japanese)