Mark these MBBS manipulators

Every year, university clerks and officials with greasy palms, an incestuous doctor fraternity 8212; it is no coincidence that most gold medallists are the offspring of doctors 8212; and professors who have long since relinquished the Hippocratic oath nudge students into the rarified atmosphere of their sterile domain.

Telephone calls to susceptible examiners, professors blatantly soliciting money for marks and doctoring the list of examiners are some of the means used to helpstudents whose skills are not commensurate with their ambition.

Sometimes the plotting is a little more sinister 8212; why, even deceased examiners are known to periodically assess answer-sheets! In fact, students have evolved a modus operandi so flawless that year after year, it works without fail.

Recalls a doctor at the Nair Hospital: 8220;When I was assigned to re-evaluate final year MBBS Surgery papers over two years ago, students used to telephone me at home and rattle off their roll numbers, saying they were failing by two to three marks and that I should help them. This, even before the papers had reached me. When I refused, they simply found another, more manageable8217; examiner.8221;

Though the list of examiners prepared by the Board of Examinations is a confidential document, it is easily accessible thanks to helpful university staff. In fact, the abuse it is subjected to whittles down objectivity to a redundant concept.

For instance, instead of rotating examiners, doctors susceptible to inducementsfigure in it every year. Reveals a doctor at the Grant Medical College: 8220;In almost every other subject, it is the same examiner who corrects the papers year after year. This is done in conjunction with university officials and clerical staff.8221;

Another, more subtle, tactic is to deliberately delay dispatching the list to the examiners so that some of them opt out at the last moment. The list is then revised to include others who are only too willing to accept examinership. Even the clerical staff are sometimes bribed to alter the list.

Sometimes, buried among the list, are the names of examiners who have either retired or are deceased. 8220;The BoE never bothers to delete these names. 8220;Since these people obviously cannot turn up, the university appoints others of their choice at the very last minute,8221; the doctor reveals.

Qualifications8217;, of course, is a word long since deleted from the university8217;s lexicon. For instance, an associate professor in Paediatric Surgery with the LTMG Hospital has beenappointed as an emergency8217; examiner for the MBBS examinations more than once in the last couple of years despite a faculty decision which bars doctors in superspeciality fields from evaluating MBBS candidates, according to another superspeciality doctor.

However, in this case, the rules were waived as other examiners were allegedly not available. 8220;But, when I sent in my application, my request was rejected,8221; he says.

The monetary spin-offs of accepting examinership are so tempting that they have numbed the consciences of many doctors. Every year, before the exams, doctors make the rounds of students8217; hostels and actually collect money from them. At the GMC in November last year, head of the Anatomy Department, Dr K A Rangari, pasted posters in the college premises, offering first year MBBS students an easy, though expensive, shortcut to success. The posters said students could get 8220;high marks8221; by paying Rs 8,000-Rs 15,000. An inquiry was initiated against Dr Rangari, who was found guilty ofarbitrarily assigning and overwriting marks. She has since been transferred.

Though the practice is rampant and examiners usually get away with it, there are instances when the guilty are brought to book. Five years ago, a doctor was caught taking Rs 50,000 from students during the post-graduate examinations at GT Hospital. However, the fraud was discovered only because the then Anti-Corruption Bureau chief8217;s son was taking the same examination!If favours are granted for friendship and money, there are an equal number motivated by pure vendetta. Students are used as pawns to settle scores between their parents, who are either senior university officials or doctors themselves.

A doctor recalls the case of a colleague who had graduated from TN Medical College in 1982. 8220;He had registered for Ophthalmology under a senior professor at the college but the examiner had an axe to grind with the professor. In his Master8217;s examination, my colleague was failed four times.

What8217;s worse, this examiner would openlyannounce that he was deliberately failing this candidate because he was registered under the worthless8217; senior professor.8221; Final year MBBS students from GMC claim examiners at one of the three civic hospitals where they took their practical examination in November asked them to identify themselves by raising their hands. They say they were subsequently allotted lower marks en masse vis a vis students in civic medical colleges.

Punitive measures, clearly, have not served as a deterrent. For one, the provision in the university8217;s statute, which recommends dismissal for teachers found guilty of examination malpractices, is rarely used. Instead, transfers are the main punitive tool. But these too are often manipulated, with the guilty at times being re-instated.

The university had introduced centralised assessment of papers two years ago along with bar coding which masks the students8217; roll numbers. Still, one examiner assessing final year MBBS papers in November 1998 received a telephone call from adesperate student who told him her8217;s was the 16th paper from the top of the bundle she would be evaluating.

With such clairvoyance infiltrating the system, it is no wonder the custodians of education in one of the most prestigious university8217;s in the state don8217;t stand a chance.

Deepa A is a reporter with The Indian Express. She covers education