Continuing with the recent trend of irregularities observed with examinations in Karnataka government-run institutions, an entire question paper of 2017 was reproduced in toto for this year’s exam. The 40-odd first semester students pursuing Masters of Education in the University of Mysore were in for a surprise on December 21 when they were given the exact same questions of 2017 for the ‘Introduction of Education Studies’ paper.
All the 40 questions were repeated in the exact same order as that of the previous year. Now, the students are unsure if the exam will be held again at a later date thus increasing their anxiety.
Professor J Somashekar, Registrar (Evaluation) told TNM, “We will inform shortly (if there will be a re-examination).” He said that there is an internal enquiry in place to figure out how the Board of Examiners reproduced the old question paper entirely.
In July, the University had made news for all the wrong reasons. Some student activists had accused administration officials of misusing their power to protect themselves, after the University issued a circular which prohibited protests within the campus without prior permission. The diktat came after the Karnataka High Court had passed an order pronouncing that appointments of non-teaching staff made by the University three years ago were illegal. Students alleged that the circular was passed only to limit the further embarrassment to the administration.
Karnataka’s poor record in conducting exams
The state government had brought in Karnataka Education (Amendment) Act 2017 in the wake of multiple question paper leaks in school Board exams at the PU and SSLC level. In fact, the PU-II exams for Chemistry in 2016 had to be held three times after the paper was leaked on two occasions.
Following that, the Karnataka Secure Examination System was put in place for February 2017, which entailed four levels of security like CCTV surveillance, biometrics and barcode for conducting the exams. Even a list of do’s and don’ts for students on the usage of social media ahead of the examinations, was introduced after the accountancy paper was allegedly leaked on WhatsApp.
The last major paper leak reported was the English paper in the ongoing SSLC mid-term exam in Bengaluru rural district.