MUMBAI, February 8: The fifteen final-year engineering students of the K J Somaiya College, who were declared "failed" in their oral examinations held last May, will receive their amended marksheets next week.Said Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of Mumbai, Dr Naresh Chandra, "The varsity will send the Board of Examiners' decision in writing by Monday, and the students will receive their marksheets next week."All these students had failed in one viva-voce last May. They all had scored less than ten marks out of a total of fifty, and were thus ineligible for the required ten grace marks which would have otherwise seen them through the examination. All of them otherwise got either aggregate first class or high second class.The aggrieved students sent a letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the varsity, Dr Snehalata Deshmukh, questioning the motives of their internal assessor. Subsequently, the university instituted an inquiry committee which tabled its interim report before the Board of Examiners on January21. The Board, headed by the V-C, decided to re-evaluate the marks for the orals, a first in the varsity's history.Ten years back, one engineering student had challenged the manner in which practical and oral examinations were being conducted before an Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court. The state government had instituted a committee, headed by the former Pro-Vice Chancellor Dr V N Gupchup, suggesting ways of having a foolproof evaluation system. It was only on Thursday, say sources, that the Directorate of Technical Education passed the findings of this report to the state government. The Dean of Technical Education, Dr S Sundaram said he plans to circulate the Gupchup Committee report to engineering colleges, which, among others, have recommended that examiners should try to find out what the students know rather than what they do not know. Stated the Principal of Sardar Patel College of Engineering, "For an oral examination, two examiners are appointed, who are supposed to jointly examine thecandidates one at a time, give marks independently and finally calculate the average. The fact that none of these candidates obtained marks between nine and nineteen in the oral examination, supposed to be conducted as aforesaid, is intriguing." Added Rao, it is time that the university investigates the way the oral examinations are conducted in various colleges and come out with appropriate guidelines about the same.
