Ahmedabad
Mirror: Ahmedabad: Tuesday, October 16, 2012.
 |
Mihir Acharya (left) and
Palak Srimali had requested access to answer
sheets of subjects in which they
had scored badly as the duo was
confident they had done well
|
Gujarat
University in August had announced that it would allow students to access
answer sheets under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. However, it seems the
examination department of the university is unaware of this decision. Recently
two students, who, after reading of the GU Council’s decision, applied for
access to answer sheets under RTI, were denied permission by the examination
department.
Mihir Acharya
and Palak Srimali, students of H K Arts College, were dissatisfied by their
scores in the final TY BA examination conducted by the
university. “I scored 19 in paper 9–literary criticism. I was sure I would have
scored more marks and hence applied for rechecking and re-correction in July.
However, on September 10, I received correspondence from the GU saying there
would be no change in my scores,” said Mihir.
Palak, who
had scored 29 in paper 7 (English literature 1901-2000) and 34 in paper 8
(English form of literature), also received a similar reply. “We had read in newspapers
that if we asked to see our answer sheets under RTI, then we could get access.
We wanted to know what had gone wrong in the paper. Even if the marks weren’t
increased, we wanted to take note of our mistakes. So, on September 26, we
filed an RTI,” said Palak. Both, Mihir and Palak are residents of Dholka.
The students
received a rude shock on October 1 when their request was denied by the
examination department. The correspondence sent by the department read, “The
matter of giving access to answer sheets through RTI is still being
considered by the University council. Till a final decision is taken, we cannot
grant you access to answer sheets.”
While, the
letter has left the students confused, the university’s incharge registrar
Arvind Bhandari claimed that university is indeed giving access to answersheets. “The final
decision on the issue was taken by the council in August. If any department in GU has
any confusion regarding the matter, it will be sortedout immediately,” Bhandari said.
The decision
to release photocopies of answersheets was taken at a syndicate meeting of GU held on
August 18. Acting GU vice-chancellor Mukul Shah had said that the proposal was
unanimously accepted.
On an
average, about 18,000 students who are not satisfied with their marks apply for
reassessment and rechecking. After the decision,
students wanting a photocopy of answer
sheets would have to pay Rs 20 per paper as RTI fees and pay Rs 2 per page for the photocopy.
In August,
last year, the Supreme Court had ruled that a certain group of examinees
unhappy with scores could ask for their answer sheets under the RTI Act. The
group comprised class X and XII students, and those taking entrance exams for
professional courses or taking tests for jobs.
A bench of
Justice R V Raveendran and Justice A K Patnaik was acting on an appeal filed by
the CBSE and West Bengal Board of Secondary Education among others. The boards had
challenged the rulings of several information commissioners that directed them
to show answer sheets to students.
.JPG)
.JPG)
