JU engineering department to stop exam review & introduce preview

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, October 11, 2007
The faculty council of Jadavpur University’s engineering department on Thursday decided to do away with the system of review of answer scripts from the next academic session and instead introduce the preview system.
According to the new rule to be implemented from June 2008, the university will show the evaluated answer scripts of every semester exam to its students prior to the publication of results. It will be mandatory for teachers to show the evaluated answer scripts in the classroom and will be made a part of the university’s academic calendar. The students, however, will not be allowed to carry the answer script out of the classroom or make a photocopy.
Along with the evaluated answer scripts, students will be given a grievance sheet, which they can fill up if they have any problem regarding evaluation. Each grievance sheet will be forwarded to the grievance redressal cell formed especially for this purpose. If the student has a valid point, then the answer scripts will be sent for a recheck. Results will be published with the corrected marks. But if students are unhappy about the way their grievance has been handled, they would not be eligible for a review.
“The university will make necessary changes and form new rules to accommodate preview of answer scripts. But once results are published, no changes can be made,” said Partha Pratim Biswas, a professor of the engineering department and member of its faculty council.
The university feels that preview of answer scripts will be more democratic and also bring in transparency into the system. “The process will not only be more transparent but will also help students understand where and how they went wrong so that they can improve further,” said Biswas. “The process would also ensure that teachers too improve their evaluation standard, as students will be able to see it and make comments,” he added.
However, the university is unsure about what it would do if a student wants to see the answer scripts even after publication of results, through the right to information act. JU will also be strict in ensuring that semester results are published within 45 days of the exam.
Mou.Chakarborty@hindustantimes.com