Software problems caused mistakes: Education dept

On Tuesday,Newsline had reported that caste affiliations of home science candidates did not match in the detailed list of marks and the final merit list.

The OBC candidates in the detailed list were mentioned as SC candidates in the merit list and vice versa.

On Wednesday,the Education department admitted that the detailed list was incorrect.

“The mismatch between the two lists occurred when the data was being compiled. It took place due to problems in the software,” Director Public Instructions (Schools) Sunil Bhatia said. “The final merit list is correct. The detailed list of marks has been corrected.”

In an official press release,the Administration said the detailed list of marks had no relevance and that only the merit list and waiting list were important. It said the merit list released on the website was correct.

Now,the Administration has invited applications from candidates in case of “any doubts or objections”.

“How can we be sure that results of other subjects are correct? Anomalies have been found in many lists,” a candidate said. “The Education department should scrutinise the lists once again to ensure that the selection process is fair. They should not play with the future of the candidates.”

In the recruitment process,16 home science teachers have been selected. Of these,nine should be general category candidates,two SC,four OBC and one physically handicapped.

Software caused totalling mistakes as well?

Earlier,errors in the fine arts list were reportedly attributed to the calculating formula of an “old software”.

Newsline had reported that totalling of marks of 59 candidates was incorrect. But officials had no explanation as to why the mistakes took place only in case of 59 candidates — around 190 candidates took the exam.