Pune University News-Varsities to take action against colleges for delay in exam paper evaluation

FROM - http://www.expressindia.com

Pune The state government has directed all the state universities to take action against colleges that delay the process of examination paper evaluation. The government resolution to this effect was issued by the state on October 16, saying stern action will be taken by the universities against colleges which assign additional responsibilities to teachers while they are assigned paper evaluation work.

All universities have been instructed to declare results within 30-45 days from the day of the examination. A meeting was held on August 16 this year by the state Governor on the matter.

S M Ahire, examination controller, University of Pune (UOP), denied any serious cases of delays in the declaration of results. "Almost 90 per cent of our results are declared on time. Results get delayed when there are sudden last minute changes in timetable. At times teachers are given additional responsibilties due to which they are not able to complete paper evaluation."

Citing an example he said, "From this year onwards it was decided that there will be no examination in October for first year students of BA, BSc and BCom. Accordingly the timetable was prepared in July for second and third year exams. However after protests from various sectors, we decided to go back to the old pattern. So changes in the slots and seating arrangements made the entire schedule go haywire."

As per the Act, UoP has a lapses committee in place that looks into cases of delay due to teachers not turning up for paper correction etc. From this year onwards papers of the first year students are being evaluated at the colleges itself, while the second and third year papers will be evaluated at the university level.

"While provisions are there in the act for punishment, a teacher or paper evaluator being punished is quite unheard of as most of them get away by justifying their absence on medical grounds etc," said a senior official.

With the view of speeding up the process of declaration of results, UoP has already delegated the responsibility of paper correction of first year students to respective colleges. Nand Kumar Nikam, president, Pune University Principals Forum said, "The system was started in March-April this year. All colleges were asked to evaluate the first year annual exam papers and issue marksheets by themselves. So far it has been going good as it takes off a lot of pressure from the examiners."

With the term end exams coming to an end on Friday, colleges in the city closed for winter break on Saturday. Classes will resume on November 18. For the term end exam, which is compulsory for all students of BA, BSc, BCom, BBA and BCA for all three years, 5,550 students appeared from Fergusson College, about 700 from SP College. The term end exams are conducted by colleges