College failed to send my marks, I lost out on a job’

Pune Mirror; Neelambari Bhoge; Friday, September 24, 2010;

Student fails in two subjects in MA exam, discovers via RTI that city college didn’t send his oral exam marks to Pune University

Losing out on a job opportunity is painful. And Rohan Sonale, 26, knows it all too well. Sonale blames the Professor Ramkrishna More Arts, Commerce and Science College, Akurdi, for his loss.

Rohan Sonale holds the copy of

the reply he received from the

University of Pune to his

RTI application

According to Sonale, the college allegedly failed to send his oral marks for the first semester exams to the University of Pune on time, and this resulted in him ‘failing’ in two subjects.

As a result, he could not get through his job interview. Sonale discovered this glaring error through a Right to Information (RTI) plea that he filed in July 2009.

Sonale said, “I appeared for the first semester exams of Master of Arts (MA) English course in May 2009. I received the marksheet in July 2009.

And I was shocked to see that I had failed in two subjects — English Language and Literature Teaching and Linguistics and Stylistics.

The marksheet showed that I had scored 29 and 25 marks respectively. To pass, one needs to score a minimum 32 marks out of 80.

But I was sure that I had given my exams really well and that there must be some mistake. But I was not sure if I was marked correctly in the oral exams.

So, I filed an RTI application on July 24, 2009, with the University of Pune. I got a reply from the University on August 26, 2009. In the reply, the varsity said that they have not received my oral marks from my college.

I then submitted a copy of the RTI response to the college after which my marksheet was modified in May 2010.

Though I cleared my Masters course, I missed out on a job opening — which was available in July 2009 — because my marksheet was showing that I had failed in two subjects.”

The RTI response that Rohan received was signed by one A V Chavan, information officer.

‘We sent the oral marks’

Mirror got in touch with college principal Nitin Ghorpade, who said, “We did get an RTI application from Rohan. I think it was a misunderstanding on his part.

When he saw that he had failed, he thought we might not have sent his oral exam marks to the University. The oral exams are conducted in other institutes, from where the marks are sent to the university.”

Another college official said, “Students sometimes get the wrong impression due to which they feel that they have not received satisfactory marks. But the fact is that they score less marks due to linguistic incompetence.

They fail to concentrate on the study matter and also have weak grammatical skills. Also, literature being subjective in nature, there are a million ways of interpreting it.”

“When we got a copy of the RTI application, we checked our data and sent a reply to the University. Even the University verified it. This is clear from the fact that his marksheet has been corrected,” the official said, adding, “Sometimes, students don’t write the correct seat numbers or commit other such mistakes, which lead to such complications in the marksheet. Mistakes are not intentional, they just happen. No teacher will be biased for or against the students.”

Universityspeak

A varsity official said, “Whenever we receive applications from colleges regarding marks, we respond immediately, and rectify mistakes, if any. Our officials are humans too, and clerical mistakes are possible.

But even students are at fault many times. They do now write correct seat numbers and so marks get diverted. We are involved in students’ welfare to the extent that we inquire if a student has been absent for exams on a regular basis. We try to ensure that students’ future is not hampered in any way.”