The Register's Kelly Fiveash reports today that UK-based exam board Edexcel has announced plans to increase security by tagging its GCSE and A-level exams with RFID starting this summer.

"Incidents involving stolen papers are extremely rare, but the potential impact is massive," says Edexcel managing director Jerry Jarvis. "The logistics of re-issuing an alternative paper to schools and colleges around the country and re-training markers on the new paper are complicated, costly, and could ultimately be detrimental to candidates."

According to BBC News, Edexcel's paranoia is justified. "Teacher Farzana Akbar was given a three-month sentence and was banned from teaching for three months after admitting taking five GCSE maths papers from the Archbishop Lanfranc School in south London in 2002," the BBC article states. "And in 2004, police were called in to investigate the theft of maths and chemistry A-level papers, after questions were posted on a website ahead of the exam."

More here from Engadget ... more here from Pocket-lint ... more here from the Daily Telegraph ... more here from the Daily Mail ... more here from RFID Update ... and the press release is here.