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THE TIMES OF INDIA

Students use RTI to see answer sheets

Times of India, Sep 14, 2011, 01.07am IST

LUCKNOW: After running from pillar to post and requesting university authorities to allow them to see their answer books, nearly 10 first year undergraduates of Mahila College on Tuesday took the RTI route to have a look at their evaluated answer sheets.

                The agitated girls allege anomalies in evaluation process and had earlier agitated at the university campus. Even after having a dialogue with the university vice-chancellor, things did not seem to work in their favour. It was then that few of them decided to file an RTI.

                President of university's teachers' association Anil Shukla supporting the students said, "The university should show the answer sheets to the students, else it will put a question mark on the entire teacher fraternity. Why should the university hesitate, if the evaluation done by the teachers is fair? The system should be fool proof."

                Earlier, students of Lala Mahadeo Prasad Verma Girls Degree College pursuing MA (Sociology) had moved an application under Right To Information Act to see their answer sheets.

                The National PG College allows its students to see their answer sheets in case they are not satisfied with their marks. The college also displays the answer books of top five students of every class in its library, which others can read and learn. In Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University (RMLNLU) also, students have the right to see their evaluated answer books.

                Senior professors in Lucknow University feel that if this is applied, a transparent system is in the offing. The Supreme Court in April gave a ruling that students unhappy with their examination scores can take a look at their answer sheets by moving an application under the RTI.

 

Should answer sheets be shown to LU students?

Times of India, Sep 17, 2011, 04.29am IST

LUCKNOW: Lucknow University's executive council members, in a meeting on Friday, raised the issue of showing evaluated answer sheets to the students. The argument gained momentum after undergraduate students of the varsity and other associated colleges protested against the anomalies in evaluation process.

                An executive member, Anil Singh, said, "The act of showing answer sheets to the students will benefit the university and it would promote transparency. The students have a full right to see their answer sheets in case they are not satisfied with the marks given to them.''

                Another executive council member said, "If the university can review the answer sheets of students, why can't it allow the students to see their answer sheets? It is a question mark on the entire teachers' fraternity if the university sticks to its arguments.'' Students have been protesting for allegedly deliberately failing them in subjects. tnn The agitated students had even tried to commit suicide after university authorities denied them re-evaluation. However, till Friday, the university reviewed nearly 100 answer books of the students who scored poor marks and found that the marks awarded to them were genuine. "All the answer sheets that have been reviewed show that the students had performed poorly,'' said university spokesperson A K Srivastava.

 

Readers' opinions (1)

sushilverma1010@gmail.com (kolkata)
18 Sep, 2011 07:30 AM
                The students have the right to know why they got the score they did. The evaluator should be able to justify the marks he gave. It could be an error, disagreement with the student's point of view (particularly in social sciences) or just an arbitrary judgdgement. It has a life long bearing on the effected student.s future. One way of dealing with this situation is like in the American universities (Master's and Ph.D. level) al exams are done in triplicate and are graded by two evaluators. If there is a disagreement in grade given to the student, it is sent to a third evaluator. I know it because I did my Ph.D. there and one of my exams went to the third evaluator because one passed me and one failed me. This is fair to the student.

LU students can use RTI to see answer sheets at Rs.10

Times of India, Sep 29, 2011, 01.50pm IST

LUCKNOW: Undergraduate students protesting against Lucknow University charging Rs 500 to show them the evaluated answer sheets can try their luck now at Rs 10. On Wednesday, the university decided to delink the scrutiny process from evaluation process thereby giving a sigh of relief to the students.

                Any student desirous of seeing his/her evaluated answer books can take the RTI route and move an application for the same. The student will have to pay Rs 10 per evaluated answer sheet. Giving this information, university spokesperson Prof Rajesh Mishra said, "In case a student wishes to apply for inspection and scrutiny simultaneously, he will have to pay Rs 500 per evaluated book. Besides, the students who want to decide about scrutiny after seeing their answer sheet will have to follow the university's prescribed rules of scrutiny."

                According to Mishra, the evaluated answer book of every paper will be considered a document as per RTI rules, thus one has to apply and pay requisite fee separately for the inspection and/or scrutiny of the evaluated answer book of every paper. The university has decided to show the answer sheet to the applicant in the presence of their parents along with the principal or dean of the college or faculty, the concerned subject teacher and a subject expert appointed by the university. "All other conditions of applying for inspection of evaluated answer books will remain same," said Prof Mishra.

                The application form is available on the university website. However, the question that remains unanswered here is that in case a student spots error while inspecting the copies, will re-evaluation take place? On this, Prof Mishra said, "A proposal to review the revaluation process will be sent to the state government for approval." The state government replaced the revaluation facility by introducing back paper and improvement examinations in 1987 in all the state universities.

                On the contrary, students who have been protesting said that only half the battle has been won. "Much more needs to be done. In case of an irregularity, our answer sheets should be revaluated," said a student.