Ahmedabad Mirror: Ahmedabad: Monday,
June 27, 2016.
Niki Bhavsar,
a second year BCom student of Gujarat University was shocked to see that
several answers in her Statistics paper had not been checked and she had not
been awarded marks in three other subjects despite writing the right formulas
and answers. Niki had sought her Semester 3 answer sheets of Corporate
Accounting, Statistics, Cost Accounting and Indian Financial System under the
Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Niki who got
65 per cent marks in third semester said that she had worked very hard and knew
for sure that there had been some error in checking her papers. After seeing
her answer sheets, she claimed that she should have got up to 50 more marks and
her percentage should have been 72 instead of 65. She has now filed a writ
petition in Gujarat High Court and a notice has been issued to Gujarat
University to be present for a hearing on July 4.
Every year
several students like Niki suffer because of the negligent approach of the
varsity examiners. Many of these students may have lost out on a bright future
because of the careless attitude of these paper checkers. Each year Gujarat
University receives 3,000 to 4000 RTI applications from students for copies of
their answer sheets and errors are found in 85 to 90 per cent of cases. The
issue has been brought to the notice of university officials a number of times,
but the varsity claims it is helpless in such matters.
Varun Narula,
a third year B Com student who filed an RTI found out numerous errors in the
way his answer sheets had been checked. Several answers were ticked right but
no marks assigned. When he approached the Examination department he was told to
file an application and that his problem would be rectified the following week.
Varun claims that he knows a lot of students who are facing similar issues.
Niki said, "Each mark makes a huge impact on the future prospects of a
student. Stringent measures should be taken against such careless teachers who
play with our lives."
'REASSESSMENT
PROCESS IS VERY UNFAIR'
Students
claim that even the reassessment process is unfair and gives preference to
statistical complications over merit of the student. For example, if a student
scores 32 out of 70 marks and applies for reassessment then the paper is
checked for the second time. If the second examiner gives 45/70 marks then
there is a difference of more than 15% in the marks. In such a case, a third
examiner checks the paper and gives 37/70 marks, then the marks which are
closer to the initial marks are counted. What is even more galling is examiners
checking other subject answer sheets and not realizing they have checked them.
As per a
university source, last year a Social Science teacher didn't realize that he
had checked Sanskrit papers as well. Similarly, a B Com teacher also checked
papers of BCA. Gujarat University Vice Chancellor M N Patel washes his hands
off the entire botch up. "We are aware of the kind of errors that take
place in the checking process but there is not much we can do. These teachers
are paid high salaries and we pay them a meagre amount of Rs 3 to 5 per answer
copy. So they don't care much about following the right procedure.
If we point
out their mistakes they tell us that they would not come at all for checking,
the next time. If the error in checking is too big, all we can do is to cut
down on the amount that we pay them for the process." According to
Digvijaysinh Gohil, general secretary, Gujarat University Area Teacher
Association, "Yes, it is true that mistakes are committed by some
teachers. Teachers reason that it is tough to check 1,000 answer books instead
of 300 they are supposed to. This is nothing but an excuse on the te-acher's
part. They should be more vigilant and responsible towards checking as one mark
is capable of ruining the life of any student."
A source in
the university says, "Students shouldn't only go after RTI. They should
also ask for reassessment and rechecking so that they can get their marks
changed." Till date no strict action has been taken against any teacher
for committing such errors. The teachers do not want to examine papers and the
university does not have a proper system in place to penalise them. The
government has not made proper rules in this regard and all these loopholes
leave the students stranded. Despite all their hard work they have to pay the
huge cost of bearing with the consequences of their teachers' faults. With each
passing year the number of cases has gone up. Unless the university and state
government take immediate action, students will continue to suffer.
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