Part 3 | When students who scored zero also pass exams

Part 3 | When students who scored zero also pass exams

(This Part 3 of a series by Malayala Manorama. Click to read Part 1 & Part 2)

The masterminds behind most of the scams at the Kerala University operate from the offices of top officials. Most of the scams are hatched by these people who have been stuck to the same post for years. Only an investigation by an outside agency will be able to reveal the extent of the fraud committed by them.

Teachers in ‘marks trade’

There is a section of teachers in the university who take money to give additional marks in answer sheets. Some time ago, a teacher was caught red-handed giving to some students higher marks that they didn’t deserve. When it was decided to debar him, he apologised and escaped punishment. Some time later, he became a part of the Academic Council of the University. You probably don’t need too much of a qualification to decide on academic matters!

There are some teachers who take re-evaluation of LLB exam papers on a ‘contract’ basis. They will give you additional marks if you pay them an amount. In fact, if the answer sheets checked by such people are re-evaluated, then many students may end up losing their LLB certificate!

A farce called question paper

For some small exams, authorities tend to forget to prepare question papers and to send them to the press for printing. It is only when the exam date nears do they realise that the question paper is not ready. However, once an exam has been announced, it cannot be postponed just because the question paper is not ready.

They will then dig out an old question paper prepared on the basis of the same syllabus. They will then change the title of the paper and type it before making copies. The copies are put in packets and sent to examination centres. It is not a problem for the university that those who change the titles and make copies will be able to know what is in the question paper. This is how “secret" the preparation of question paper for an exam is.

Marks fraud first reported in the 1970s

The first mark scam in 'Kerala' took place in the seventies. The news of some students who scored zero and one mark in science subjects in the pre-degree exams getting admission in MBBS by forging their mark sheets had left everyone shocked.

They managed to get admission to medical course by taking out the mark list sheets from the university and filling in new marks in them. An extensive investigation followed after the scam came to light. The Crime Branch arrested the officers who had taken the mark lists that contained the seal of the examination controller out of the university and they were later expelled. Also, the court convicted those who obtained medical admission on the basis of forged mark list.

Back then, fraudsters did not change the marks entered on university records. The current scams, however, even tamper with university records. This leads to a situation where irregularities cannot be detected easily.

Neither the government nor the university authorities were involved in the MBBS scam. But, now, many in the government and university are involved in falsifying marks lured by money and without fear of punishment due to political backing.

Students clear cancelled exam

There was a recent incident in which even the results of those who “wrote” an exam that was cancelled were secretly accepted by the university.

The question paper packet of the algebra and computer program exam as part of the BSc Maths degree was opened by mistake before the exam at a college near Chengannur. Since the question paper was out, the exam was cancelled.

Weeks later, the exam was conducted on the basis of a new question paper. However, in two colleges in Pandalam and Chengannur, the authorities conducted the examination using the question paper that was cancelled.

The answer papers were then sent to the university. But, the teachers looking at answer sheets refused to evaluate the papers from these two colleges because the answers did not match the questions of the revised paper.

However, an official of the examination section took the answer sheets from the assessment camp, and another teacher was assigned to evaluate the paper. The students were thus able to “clear” the exam.

The university syndicate had recommended action against the section officer responsible for the incident. However, he was promoted to a key post in the examination section by disregarding the syndicate’s decision. Now, most of the activities of the examination department is under his control.

It is the lower level officials who manage the conduct of examinations in the university. Those in higher positions do not have much knowledge about conducting exams. Officials at the deputy registrar and joint registrar levels just sit and watch. The only responsibility they have is to sign the files brought to them by the section officers.

Marks for nothing

Last year, students who scored zero marks were awarded passing marks in the BA Economics second semester exam.

If there is a question outside the syllabus or has an error, then the scientific method adopted while evaluating papers is to distribute equivalent marks to other questions. However, in the Economics exam, questions for 26 marks out of the total 80 marks were out of syllabus. As a result, everyone who wrote the number of the questions were awarded 26 marks each.

There are 20 marks for internal examination. Every student is given at least 10 marks in the intern exams. Students who actually scored zero in the Economics paper would have got the 26 marks awarded for questions that were said to be out of syllabus and 10 marks for internal exams, for a total of 36 marks, which is enough to just pass the exam.

Some of the teachers who conducted the evaluation pointed out that this was incorrect. However, the university was against withdrawing the marks and instead decided to award at least half the marks given to the students. Thus, students who just wrote the question numbers got 13 marks each.

Answer sheets often go missing from the university. The affected students are usually told that the university could not prepare the result as it did not receive the answer sheets from the colleges concerned.

There is no facility to keep the answer sheets arriving at the university safe. They are dumped somewhere on the campus. The papers are picked from such piles and sent to the evaluation camp. Some time ago, water leaked into the temporary shed where answer sheets were kept. As a result, many answer sheets got destroyed.

 

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