Thiruvananthapuram: Around 71 MBA students from Kerala University, who attended classes from 2022 to 2024, were unexpectedly informed that they would have to retake an examination they had previously taken on May 31, 2024, while awaiting their final results.
During their third semester, the students had sat for the Project Finance examination, which was administered by Kerala University on May 31, 2024.
On getting the notification from the university, the students said they were shocked by what had happened.
“We had been worried that something was wrong, as for a long time we have been regularly enquiring about the delay in publishing the 3rd semester results.
"We wrote the 4th semester final exams, and even as we were waiting for the final results, we have been told that we need to appear again for a new examination in the subject Project Finance,” said the angry students.
Incidentally, it was on Friday that the news surfaced that the reason why they have been asked to write the exam again is that a college teacher entrusted with the job of evaluating the 71 answer sheets had lost them.
The teacher filed a police complaint in his hometown of Palakkad, informing the authorities that the answer sheets had gone missing while he was transporting them on his two-wheeler. He also notified Kerala University about the incident.
“This is shocking news and exposes the callous manner in which answer sheets are being handled. We want to know why no action has been taken against this teacher who has literally ruined our future.
"How is it possible to write an examination at short notice on a subject we studied 10 months ago? The Kerala University has to ensure we get justice, as we are being penalised for no fault of ours,” said another distraught student.
In response to the incident, Kerala University Vice-Chancellor Dr Mohan Kunnummal has convened an emergency meeting on Tuesday with officials responsible for handling answer sheet valuation.
According to R.S. Sasikumar, a retired Kerala University employee, until recently, answer sheet valuation was conducted at centralised camps where teachers would gather to evaluate the papers collectively.
"But, very recently, that was discontinued, and now teachers can sit at their homes and do the valuation," Sasikumar said.
“University officials failed to act on time, and hence there is serious erosion of credibility. Universities are now being politicised. A way out of this impasse is that the university can give average marks based on past performance of each student for this particular subject, and the results should be published immediately,” said Sasikumar.
(inputs from IANS)