CU staggers language papers

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, April 18, 2007

Call it the population affect. Due to the steep rise in the number of first year students sitting for the Part I examination this year, the Calcutta University (CU) decided on Wednesday to stagger the compulsory language and environmental studies examinations with six set of question papers. While in 2006 92,000 students sat for the Part I examination, in 2007 the number has gone up to 1,20,000.
“This is a warning bell for Calcutta University. We have reached the optimum level in terms of expansion and student intake. We could not have accommodated so many students on the same day,” said Suranjan Das, Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic) of CU.
CU already has 160 colleges under its ambit. The university has already urged the higher education ministry to easy off the pressure. As a result the state government has decided to have a new university in North 24- Parganas.
The Under Graduate Council said there will be six set of question papers for the compulsory subjects which, includes Compulsory English and Modern Indian Language, (which could be either Hindi or Bengali) and Environment Studies. Earlier the university used to have three sets of question papers for B.A., B.Sc and B.Com but for the Part I exam commencing on July 4, there will be separate set of questions for the honours and pass students for each stream.
Students however, may not be happy with this measure. “It is obvious that some students will complain of getting difficult and lengthy papers, while others may get a far easier set of questions. But we are confident that there will be no major headache. This is because the students are required to pass in these three subjects,” said a member of the UG Council.
The university will also try to ensure for spot evaluation. “We will have to rethink about the process in which we are conducting our exams and will have to look at the college distribution structure,” said Das. The university in its next UG Council meeting would try and ensure that the zonal centres offer an evaluation for teachers. For this to happen, the university will have to consider giving grants to the colleges to upgrade its infrastructure. The university would also consider increasing the stipulated 4-day duty leave given to the teachers for correction of answer scripts. CU would try to bring in spot evaluation for these three subjects along with the elective subjects to ensure that from 2008, as per the UGC guideline, the university is able to publish Part II result by June.

mou.hindustnatimes@yahoo.com