Witnessed cheating in India's Earth Science Olympiad selection. Need advice urgently.

I’m a student who appeared for INEESO, the first stage of the IESO selection process in India this year. Many of you may not have heard about it, but it IS a relatively big exam in India and it's international stage is attended my multiple countries.

Something has been bothering me heavily.

During the entrance exam, a teacher unofficially provided answer access through another student, in our very school. That student was told to pass it to me as well. I was directly offered the same opportunity, but I refused to copy down the answers (I know it sounds like I'm trying to conceal that I also cheated by lying, but it's true)

In fact, I intentionally marked several answers wrong because I did not want my score to be influenced by what I had seen.

Fast forward.

That same student has now officially ranked 1st nationally at the training camp, among 13 other students, thus making him a part of the final 4 member group, that will represent India at the International Earth Science Olympiad in Italy

And now my school is publicly celebrating it.

What’s bothering me is not jealousy. If I had used the same unfair advantage, I likely would have scored even higher because my baseline preparation was strong.

What bothers me is this:

If the entrance stage was compromised, then the entire pipeline after that becomes distorted. Students who genuinely deserved those seats may have been filtered out before camp even began. And later selections are then made from an already flawed pool, as the actual competitors have long been eliminated

But there’s another layer to this.

At school, these achievements don’t just stay as certificates, and an achievement of THIS level will be etched as a lifelong achievement of his and also the school.

They convert into reputation, influence, teacher favoritism, and social capital. People start associating him with "he represented India on the global stage". When a student is publicly announced as “India representative” or “national rank 1,” people start associating that name with excellence automatically.

Teachers treat them differently. Students admire them. Leadership roles become easier to attain.

Future elections, opportunities, recommendations, and visibility all start compounding.

It creates a power dynamic where one achievement, fair or unfair, snowballs into many more.

And when you know the backstage of how that first step happened, it feels deeply unsettling.

That’s part of why this has been mentally affecting me, a lot.

Not just because of the exam itself, but because I now have to watch an entire institution amplify and reward something I personally know has started unfairly.

This raises some questions:

1. Is it ethical to report something like this months later?
2. If I do report it, would it even matter without hard evidence beyond my testimony?
3. Has anyone here seen similar malpractice in national olympiad pipelines?
4. How do you deal with the emotional side of watching unfair systems create long-term social advantages?

I’m not naming the student or teacher because that’s not the point.

The point is whether a system can still claim meritocracy if the first filter was broken.

Would appreciate honest perspectives.