Litmus test for Kerala varsity?s exam preparedness

Updated on: Monday, November 01, 2010

The first of the semester examinations under the newly introduced Choice-based Credit and Semester system for degree courses in the University of Kerala - scheduled to commence on November 22 - will be as much a test of the impact of the new system as it is of the varsity’s ability to computerise the conduct of these examinations.

According to sources in the university work is progressing apace at the Kerala University Computer Centre for putting in place a software which will govern the registration-to-hall ticket processes associated with these examinations. The last date for submitting online registrations for the first semester examinations was October 30.

As per system being followed by the varsity, it is the computer itself which decides whether a student is eligible or not for registering for an examination. This, a university official explained, means that no subsequent verification is needed of the data submitted by a student.

Once all the data is compiled and processed the computer centre, acting on the orders of the Controller of Examinations, will unlock the examination software for use by the principals of respective colleges. It will be the principals themselves who will generate the hall tickets needed for their institutions.

The examination rolls too would be generated by each principal. The software is being readied to accommodate data relating to 25,000-plus students of the first semester courses in degree courses across the university. The varsity is yet to take a call on whether it would computerise the compilation of grades, preparation of grade sheets and the issue of results of these examinations.

The computerisation of the processes relating to these examinations was not without its fair share of heated debate inside the varsity. According to sources the initial thinking was to outsource the work of computerisation to Keltron. “I understand that the money estimated for outsourcing was to the tune of Rs. 28 lakhs. At a meeting chaired by the vice chancellor the director of the computer centre was asked for his take on the issue. The director said the Centre was up to the task of putting in place a software for the exams,” a senior University official told The Hindu. There are those in the university who still hold that outsourcing would have been the better option, the official added.

It was on September 16, 2010 that the university formally asked the computer centre to take up the task for preparing a software for the examinations. Though the varsity had initially planned to start the first semester examinations in the last seek of October this was later postponed to November 22. The university officially maintains that this was done to synchronise its examinations with those of other universities in the State. Sources in the varsity however say that it was the protracted outsourcing debate which led to the varsity postponing the examinations. When contacted, the director of the computer centre V. Ajayakumar declined to comment on the issue.

Litmus test for Kerala varsity?s exam preparedness

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