Testing times no more

Updated on: Monday, July 20, 2009

The Examination Reforms Committee’s recent suggestion to establish a Karnataka State Universities Examination Authority (KSUEA), an autonomous institution, to conduct examinations on behalf of all the conventional universities is expected to herald a new era in the system that has been marred by confusion, irregularities and malpractices.

For long, the laborious and long-drawn task of conducting examinations had been a drain on the human resources of universities with senior administrators as well as teachers being forced to devote much of their time to the process at the cost of teaching, research and other academic activities. Also, the absence of uniformity in the schedule of examinations, announcement of results and start of classes in different universities had been posing difficulty for students passing out of one varsity and joining another.

“Examinations used to take away a lot of time of the administrators. If they are freed from this burden, they can concentrate on improving the academic system in the universities,” said former Vice-Chancellor of Kuvempu University K. Chidananda Gowda, who headed the nine-member Examination Reforms Committee.
Synchronisation

If the examinations of all the varsities are conducted by a single autonomous authority, the announcement of results can be synchronised and the students, who wish to join courses in other universities can do so without either losing classes or waiting for the classes to start.

Mr. Gowda said the committee, which was appointed by the government about eight months ago, evaluated the examination system across universities and held a series of discussions with various stakeholders and target groups before arriving at a consensus on the need for having an exclusive body to hold undergraduate, postgraduate as well as doctoral examinations.

The KSUEA could also address the complaints of malpractices reported from various universities from time to time. The scope for tampering with answer scripts, tabulation chart and marks list, besides the suspected nexus between custodians, valuators and staff of the examination branch of universities, came under the scrutiny of the committee.

Under the existing system, there is room for corruption. “The custodians enjoyed access to not only the answer scripts, but also the identity of the candidates. It was possible to tamper not only with the answer scripts and tabulation chart, but also the marks list and marks cards with the help of valuators. The staff of the examination branch have also found to be involved in certain instances of malpractices,” said H. Krishnegowda, a member of the committee.

“There is a lot of lobbying among the teachers to become a custodian. Earlier, there were no takers among civil servants for the post of Registrar (Evaluation) in universities. Now, several officials queue up for the post. It proves that examinations have become a big money game. The KSUEA will help cleanse the system of much malpractices.”

The evaluation of answer scripts will also be handled by the KSUEA, which will rope in a pool of eligible examiners from all over the State for the purpose, announce the result within a stipulated period of time and prepare all the marks cards.

The committee has suggested the KSUEA be run in a corporate style and be headed by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), preferably a senior professor, who is well-versed with the examination system and academic matters. For, the proposed autonomous body will have the responsibility of conducting examinations for about one million students enrolled in all the universities in the State.

Mr. Chidananda Gowda said the committee, which has already submitted its report to the government, had not specified the venue for locating the KSUEA. “It can be established anywhere as the authority should be run on a professional basis with the latest information and communication technology using sophisticated Examination Data Processing System (EDPS),” he said.
Initial grant

The recommendation to do away with manual coding, which gives scope for tampering of marks obtained by the candidate, and replacing the same with bar-coding requires advanced technology. The committee has urged the government to make available an initial grant of Rs. 8 crore to the KSUEA to establish a system for communicating with the universities and managing the authority in a corporate style.

Though the universities will no longer have to hold examinations, if the recommendation to constitute KSUEA is accepted, the individual universities will continue to award degrees to the students. In this regard, the KSUEA will work in harmony with Registrars (Evaluation) of all the universities.

The reforms committee’s report comes at a time when the examination system in different universities of the State has come under fire for alleged malpractices. While receiving the report, which contains a total of 18 recommendations, Higher Education Minister Aravind Limbavali could not resist the temptation to refer to the reported irregularities. “The report has come at a time when question papers are leaking or are being made to leak,” he remarked.

He said he will look into the report and take an early decision on its implementation after discussions with senior bureaucrats, academicians and other stakeholders.

Testing times no more

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