CU publishes erroneous result

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, July 25, 2007
SOME STUDENTS of the University College of Home Science, popularly known as Biharilal College, had to face traumatic moments after they found that they have failed in one paper despite getting a first class in the subject. However, the Calcutta University (CU) realised the error and acted swiftly to provide fresh marksheets to the students.
Forty-seven students of the college’s food and nutrition department were shocked and dumbstruck when they received their marksheets on Tuesday. While 32 students scored an almost impossible 93-97 in the sixth paper of food and nutrition, 15 students from the same class scored between 10 and 12. Unaware of what had gone wrong, the students immediately informed the university. The officials checked at their end and spotted the mistake. Acting fast, they issued fresh marksheets within three hours.
But when the fresh marksheets came, it created more confusion. Some students who got high scores because of the error, refused to submit their marksheets. “Why should I submit it? In the new marksheet the marks might go down,” said Tulana Chakraborty, whose old marksheet show a score of 97 in paper six.
But the error left students who got low scores seething. Smita Karmakar, who was wrongly marked 12 in the same paper, said: “When in three months the university failed to produce an error-free result, how can it do justice in three hours?”
However, the college is trying to convince the students that they should collect fresh marksheets and submit the old one. “If students feel that the old markssheets can be used, they are mistaken. The university will notify that those marksheets are invalid and they cannot be used for admission anywhere,” said head of the department Minoti Sen.
The university on its part has accepted the error. “It’s an undesirable error. We have issued corrected marksheets to all the students on Wednesday,” said CU deputy controller Debashish Biswas.
Though the university has not been able to explain why the marksheets were issued without a proper check, it has blamed teachers and students for the mistake. According to officials of the controller of exam department, the sixth paper of food and nutrition had two separate units of 50 marks each.
The students were supposed to use separate answersheets for both the units. But some students answered both the units in a single answer script. This created confusion. The teacher who corrected the answer scripts compounded the problem by overlooking the error. While one submitted the marks by adding both the units, another teacher submitted marks for one unit. The meant that instead of 100 marks, the total came to 150.
“Computers do not accept three figure marks and hence when marks above 99 were keyed in, it deleted a number. So, while some got 90 plus marks, others ended up getting very low scores,” explained an official of the department. The university is now contemplating strict action against teachers who were responsible for the error.
“It is true that some of our very good students were traumatised thinking that they have failed in one paper even after getting first class. But now that the university has corrected its mistake, we have no complains,” said Sen.
Reader in the food and nutrition department Shanta Duta Dey said: “Our students are very good. Despite the goof-up, 46 of them got first class.”
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com