The University of Calicut is conducting re-examination for 83 undergraduate students of the 2019 batch, whose answer scripts could not be found even months after their evaluation got over.
The missing answer scripts of the second semester exams had hit the headlines, with some newspapers reporting that as many as 3,500 of them could not be found. The evaluation was completed in October 2021.
The university had not assigned false numbers to the answer scripts, which is a long process, in a bid to finish off the evaluation as fast as possible. The authorities had claimed that the pandemic-induced restrictions had already delayed the conduct of the exams and the announcement of results. However, the lack of false numbers led to some amount of confusion. Many answer scripts were not returned.
The answer scripts of regular students and those in the distance education mode were found to have been clubbed. Some students complained that they were marked absent, though they had attended the exams.
In between came media reports that thousands of answer scripts were missing. The Controller of Examinations later issued a circular demanding that all of those sent for evaluation be returned. The university Syndicate denied the reports and even threatened to sue the media organisations. A Syndicate sub-committee was set up to inquire into the issue.
Sources in the Syndicate told The Hindu on Thursday that only some answer scripts in subjects such as Malayalam and English were found to have been missed. The fault was with some evaluators and the way they were bundled before returning to the university. In the inquiry, it was found that one student had wrongly given her roll number as well. “Any further delay in announcement of results in this one semester will affect the future of these students. That is why a decision to hold re-exams for them was taken. The inquiry will go on, and action will be proposed against those found guilty,” an official said.
