Srinagar, Dec 13: Taking ‘digital India’ slogan to an entirely different pedestal, or rather making a mockery of sorts, the Higher Education department, in a shocking incident today distributed badly scanned copies of question papers to students of Arts appearing for their semester examination at Amar Singh College, Srinagar.
The BA fourth semester students of Amar Singh College, Srinagar were given scanned copies. Ironically, a copy of the paper was sent through Whatsapp to the concerned officials at the center who later scanned it hurriedly and distributed it among the students. It is pertinent to mention that the text on the scanned copy is hardly readable.
A group of BA, fourth semester, students who appeared in their semester test of ‘Regional Planning & Development’ paper at Center No 5 of Amar Singh College on Thursday told Kashmir Images that the Question Booklet- Series B,( a copy of which lies with this newspaper), distributed among them was a badly scanned copy of the original paper.
“The examinations are meant to instill a sense of achievement among students but today we felt so discouraged after we were given a Whatsapp forward of our question paper,” the students said adding the kind of approach shown by the higher education department towards students clearly revealed why the education sector was in deep crisis.
Another student who also received the scanned copy of the question paper said that on enquiring from the staff about why the students were not given the original copy of the question paper, the students were told that they had not received the requisite original copies from the examination department of Kashmir University (KU) which had left them with no option but to seek one on whatsup and later print it for the students.
“It is a shame that the University of Kashmir with staff strength of thousands fails to keep the count of its students,” said the student.
When contacted, the Controller of Examination KU, Prof. Farooq Ahmad Mir, said: “If the college authorities fell short of question papers, they could have properly xeroxed the papers and distribute the same among students.”
When asked if the University will take any action against the negligence of staff he said: “Let students come to my office and I will look into the matter.”
“Shameless is the mildest way to react,” says an academician when told how KU authorities were reacting to the issue.
While the Controller of Examination didn’t seem much bothered, the incident however not only discouraged the students but also indicates that the secrecy of the question papers was not being maintained as per the guidelines set forth by the same institution.
