In a recent pathbreaking proposal,Panjab University had allowed candidates appearing for an entrance exam to see their answer booklets but it came with a price tag of Rs 10,000. After widespread resentment,a committee had been constituted to look into the matter which did not reduce the fee but recommended a total refund of the money in case the marks of a student were increased. As of now,neither the Syndicate nor the Senate has approved the recommendations of the committee and the issue has been pushed on the backburner. The proposal had been put forth with a view to increase transparency in the examination system. Though the move was appreciated,the high fee for the same received criticism from several quarters. Talking to Newsline,Controller Examination,Professor A K Bhandhari,said,The committee has decided that the entire fee would be refunded incase discrepancies were found in any students answer sheet. However,there is no change in the fee. The students,meanwhile,termed the decision as absolutely unjustified for those who may not be well off financially. Shruti,a BCom student,said,The fee is not justified. There are so many students who cant afford to pay Rs 10,000. What if a student has no money to pay for the fee in the first place. Echoing similar thoughts,Nitish,a student from DAV College,Sector 10 said,This is a kind of commersilisation on part of the university. Rs 10,000 just to see an answer sheet is very high and unacceptable. It is also pertinent to mention here that no procedure was followed by the committee before fixing the fee at Rs 10,000. Also,the university is not even providing a break-up of the money being charged. Prabhjit Singh,a Fellow at the university,who had earlier raised the issue of reducing the fee said: A committee had been formed but none of its recommendations have been approved by either the Syndicate or Senate. The fee is definitely high and we will ensure that it is reduced before the proposal is approved.
