At PU,delay keeps no deadline

Re-evaluation or compartment,deadline means nothing
This year,a little over 11,000 students applied for re-evaluation and 9,000 waited for their compartment results. But they often remain on tenterhooks,as the wait may seem indefinite. The university has no deadline to declare these results.

“I applied for re-evaluation and was sure about getting better marks. But the results were simply not declared. Then I had to apply for compartment exam to reduce the risk of sitting in the same class,” Sandeep Singh,a student,says.

Senator Prabhjit Singh agrees that the system needs major reforms: “Some reforms have been initiated,but a lot needs to be done. Setting a deadline for declaring re-evaluation results is very essential. We will take up the matter in the forthcoming Senate meeting.”

NSUI president Nitin Goyal says the university should not only ensure that results are declared on time,but also refund the re-evaluation fee if the error is on part of the staff. “If the error is found on part of the university,the re-evaluation fee should be returned. This is the minimum the university can do. But here the system is so callous that students keep making rounds of the examination branch without knowing their results,” Goyal says.

Students of the PU affiliated colleges in Punjab,Goyal adds,are the worst hit,as they have to repeatedly visit the campus.

According to sources,PU Vice-Chancellor Prof R C Sobti had decided that re-evaluation results should be declared before September 30,but this was never conveyed to the re-evaluation branch.

Coding and decoding: Anyone can do this job
Coding and decoding of the answersheets is a sensitive job,as it ensures secrecy of the examinations. Besides,a small mistake in the process can cost a student his academic year. But no specific qualification is required to do this job. For PU authorities,a person with a second division matriculation can accomplish the job.

At present,staff of the non-teaching department shares the job with retired workers and employees of the PU medical centre. They get a paltry 60 paise per answersheet.

Recently,a mistake in coding and decoding led to marks of two law students getting interchanged. As one of the students was member of a political party,the issue snowballed,leading to the suspension of four clerks,who were blamed for the mistake. They were reinstated after the non-teaching staff went on a strike.

Controller of Examination A K Bhandhari says coding and decoding is “not a very essential part of the examination process.” “We are following the manual process of coding till the entire system gets computerised,” he adds.

Computerisation: A perennial project
The project to computerise the system is going on for years,but it remains partial till date. Computerisation of the examination system would lead to speedy declaration of results and reduce manual errors.

So far,only the undergraduate examination process has been computerised. Bhandari says manual work will continue till the computerisation is complete.

Employees point towards staff crunch
President of the Non-teaching Employees’ Union Dharampal Sharma blames it on the shortage of staff and resources. “Shortage of staff is the main reason for the delay. At present,there is a shortage of 120 regular employees. We have people on contract,but the shortage prevails and would increase this year as the university is starting with the semester system,” Sharma says.

What is needed?
A deadline for declaring compartment and re-evaluation results.
Better work condition in the examination branch.
More staff members.
A committee to monitor the working of the branch
Responsibility in case of human errors.