The Telangana Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) appears to have failed in adhering to the basic standards of intermediate examination process, going by the report of the investigating panel.
The committee submitted its report to the Department of Education on Saturday and its findings reveal stunning lapses which could have been avoided with better care and coordination. The BIE did not adhere to any standards in the project/contract given to the private firm Globarena for processing the examination work right from the payment of fee to the declaration of results. The lapses in the software platform or application were noticed in September itself and the company did not respond properly after being told about them, the panel has found. But, there was no follow-up action in this regard from the board.
The software application for applying for examination, opting for centres and payment of fee was not made ready by the private firm in stipulated time and the last-minute adjustments led to errors in the allotment of exam centres. Some students also ended up in paying the fee twice.
Egregious errors
The errors were grave. Only a single digit printed in the place of double-digit marks obtained by 4,288 students of MEC group. A student was given zero marks in Telugu while the actual score was 99. In another instance, practical marks in geography for 531 students went missing totally.
Remedial measures
The software platform should be thoroughly tested to ensure the process of re-verification, award of marks and preparation of memos fool-proof, the panel has suggested.
All software modules should be properly tested by top officials ahead of the supplementary examinations to be held soon and alternative systems should be put in place to fall back on emergency.
Meanwhile, Telangana High Court, while hearing a petition seeking re-evaluation of intermediate answer scripts, directed the BIE to submit complete details of the number of students that passed after the re-verification process, which will be announced by the board on May 8. The protests of students, parents and political parties continued today. State BJP president Laxman and about 50 protesters were arrested by the police and released later.
Also read: Telangana exam row: Panel may fix the blame for ‘errors’ on software
Cascading effect
The adverse impact of the fiasco is impacting not only the 3.28 lakh failed students but also over four lakh students who passed the exam.
As the marks have to given weightage in the state Eamcet examinations, it has already been announced that release of results of this entrance will be delayed. This may adversely impact students due to mismatch between all India entrance exams such as JEE and NEET and their results. This prevents students from choosing the best option available to them depending on their performance.