This Article is From Apr 22, 2011

Student marked zero in English exam

Student marked zero in English exam
Delhi: English they say is a funny language. But 19-year-old Ankit Chabbra is not amused. The BCom IInd year student was marked zero in his recent English exam. He went for a revaluation, but there was no change in the outcome.

"I got a zero in English. This is impossible. I attempted the entire paper. Also, I was given 19 in Accounts, it just cannot be true. I did the whole paper. Even after I gave it for re-evaluation, there was no change in the status of marks. I don't know what to do now?" said Ankit.

His father Ashok Chabbra too is perplexed with the situation. "I just don't know how to react. I know my son; he has been an average student since school. We are ready to pay any amount again, but we want the papers out in front of us. This is injustice to my son's future," he said.

Ankit is not alone; there are a number of other students who are facing a similar plight at the hands of the University. A group of such students thronged the result window of the SOL office demanding a fair re-evaluation of their copies. Students claim the university is playing with their future as a number of them who have attempted the exams were marked absent in the result sheet stuck on the walls of the institution and in the office records as well.

"I just don't know where to go now. My parents are so disillusioned with me. I am marked absent for the Business Studies paper, when I had attempted the whole of it. I have not seen such injustice anywhere and this is DU," said Ruchika Tripathi, who is a BCom (Pass) student.  

Anxious parents of a bunch of students have now approached the university authorities demanding the papers of these students be shown to them. DU officials, however, appear reluctant to act on the matter and have remained silent.

When MiD DAY tried to speak to the varsity administration, the officials advised us to approach the court in the case. "I don't know what happened exactly with the papers of these youngsters. But we have more than a lakh students studying in SOL and it's difficult to open the papers every time a few of them have a problem with the results," said an SOL official on the condition of anonymity.

"I cannot say anything right now about the issue of the students who are facing these problems. They can go to the dean of examinations at Delhi University to inquire about the matter. They might get some response from them. As the exams are conducted under the varsity, the School of Open Learning cannot do anything about it," said SOL Deputy Director Dinesh Gupta in response to a query.

Voicing dissatisfaction at the semester system for all courses in Delhi University (DU) proposed from the next academic session, a teacher's body of the varsity Tuesday said the system spells academic worries for them and tough times for students.

"Semester system in other countries does not mean having exams twice a year. Its logic is entirely different from that of DU at the moment, which is simply to divide the annual studies and examination into two," said Vineeta Chandra, a DU teacher.

"Instead of choosing a course and a college as students coming to DU do now, it would require students taking admission only to a college, and determine their major (subject) and minor (subject) over a period of time.

In order to allow the students to experiment with different courses before determining their major and minor, DU would have to offer a four year course as is the case in other countries where this system exists," she added.

The teacher addressed a press conference Tuesday under the aegis of the Joint Action Body of the varsity's teachers. As of now, there are 13 courses, including physics, chemistry, botany and zoology, which follow the semester system.
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