Disclosure of university examination answer sheets

[RAVEENA_O 529]

DISCLOSURE OF EVALUATED ANSWER SHEETS OF UNIVERSITIES

The Central Information Commission has constituted a seven member bench to decide whether evaluated answer sheets of university examinations be disclosed under the Right to Information Act, 2005. In the past, a five member Bench of CIC decided not to disclose evaluated answer sheet.

 

The Bench is constituted on the background of an appeal preferred by a Delhi University Student, who was CBSE XII topper and nominee of HRD Ministry’s Commonwealth Scholarship 2009, who appeared for BA (Hons) Economics Final year exams held in Apr-May 2009 by Delhi University. Not only that she was shown absent in one of the papers, but her score as evaluated by Delhi University was an average 50%.

 

There is no check point over the system of evaluation of answer sheets by Universities or Education Boards. There is neither any effective administrative norm nor any legal remedy to this nefarious problem, which completely distroy the future of millions of bright students across the country. Providing answer sheets may multiply the workload of University / Board is not a reasonable justification to deny information under the Act since the workload that may accrue shall be flowing out of the University’s own mistakes. One cannot claim advantage of his own mistakes.

 

An evaluated answer sheet is in public domain and not exempted from disclosure. As the object and purpose of the Act itself is transparency in public functioning, there is no plausible reason why the evaluated answer sheets should not be disclosed. Section-4(1)© of Right to Information Act, 2005 casts an obligation on every public authority to provide reasons for its administrative or quasi-judicial decisions to affected persons.

 

A student who scored unreasonably low marks or failed even after properly answering questions, is an affected party and has a right to know the reasons of his failure. Conspicuous by its absence of such a provision, the evaluators or moderators are at free will to condemn even the best student. The victims of such unethical act lose faith in the system of education and the constitutional numbness that clip his future.

 

The future of students are bestowed on the system of education. There is reasonable expectation of correct evaluation of answer sheets by evaluators and moderators. Presently, the evaluation done by University is final and a student has no right to know whether evaluation was proper and marks obtained are commensurate with answers written. There is lack of transparency and objectivity in this method.

 

The evaluators are not answerable to anybody. They can evaluate paper at their whims and fancy. There should be a method to check the evaluation system to make evaluators answerable and accountable. Dissemination of evaluated answer sheets under the Act is indispensable to overcome the menace of slack and irresponsible evaluation system of Universities & Boards.

[lnkhandual 27]

DISCLOSURE OF EVALUATED ANSWER SHEETS OF UNIVERSITIES

 

An evaluated answer sheet is in public domain and not exempted from disclosure. As the object and purpose of the Act itself is transparency in public functioning, there is no plausible reason why the evaluated answer sheets should not be disclosed. Section-4(1)© of Right to Information Act, 2005 casts an obligation on every public authority to provide reasons for its administrative or quasi-judicial decisions to affected persons.

 

. Dissemination of evaluated answer sheets under the Act is indispensable to overcome the menace of slack and irresponsible evaluation system of Universities & Boards.

 

Is it the decission of the seven member bench ? Can you please mention the SOURCE of the information.

[Guest pcbali]

A great effort, Ravina to bring forth the issue on this forum. It is a serious matter which attracts attention. I am of the view that this should be open information.

[jps50 1,580]

The matter is pending at Supreme Court, which has granted stay order on following decision:

 

49 page judgement of 2 judge bench of Hon’ble High Court of Calcutta in M.A.T. No. 275 of 2008 in University of Calcutta & ors. Vs. Pritam Rooj which is available at http://www.judis.nic.in/Kolkata/Judge_Result_Disp.asp.

[karira 5,896]

The matter is pending at Supreme Court, which has granted stay order on following decision:

 

49 page judgement of 2 judge bench of Hon’ble High Court of Calcutta in M.A.T. No. 275 of 2008 in University of Calcutta & ors. Vs. Pritam Rooj which is available at http://www.judis.nic.in/Kolkata/Judge_Result_Disp.asp.

 

That stay is particular to that case and not to a general disclosure of answer scripts by other universities and boards.

[faeyaz 0]

I think they should disclose only to the students and not to everyone

[kuldeep singh khaira 8]

There is no harm of disclosure of evaluated answersheets even of the third person also if there is no favour or wrong has been done during evaluation.

[Kumar Satyendra 0]

Is it the decission of the seven member bench ? Can you please mention the SOURCE of the information.

Pl inform to forum for every RTI activist.

[debnanda 14]

Yes, the motto of this by Raveena to gather opinions of members of most active RTI activists of India of this forum. I am sure we do have a responsilbility for bringing forth any kind of change which will definitly strengthen the RTI Act, 2005 on each and evry issues; therefore I would confidently say that the evaluated answer scripts are DEFINITLY to be disclose to anyone whosoever files an application in Form-A.

 

Even a person who has not passed the subject becomes an evaluator and even not holding the post of Lecturer in the subject can very well evaluate answer scripts. This is where the students carreer comes to topsy-turvy so ASK, ASK amd ASK for the copy of evaluated answer scripts.

[tonimish2 1]

To best of my knowledge, as per UGC's guidelines Answer Books must be shown to student in presence of all others in the class and marks must be displayed on notice board within 7 days.

[tonimish2 1]

Even a person who has not passed the subject becomes an evaluator and even not holding the post of Lecturer in the subject can very well evaluate answer scripts. This is where the students carreer comes to topsy-turvy so ASK, ASK amd ASK for the copy of evaluated answer scripts.

For your kind information - such practices are rampant in academic institutions - for example - One person is a diploma holder from a institute. He is appointed as Drama Instructor in PG Dept. of Drama and Performing Arts of a University , in 1983. He was moved to Hindi Department on the request of HoD Hindi to help under UGC's Special Assistant Programme. He is not only teaching PG Hindi classes but evaluating the examination papers as well despite having no degree/diploma in Hindi. Now the University is terminated by UGC in 2007 but this person is still in Hindi Deptartment despite the request of ex-HoD Hindi to revert back him to his parent department. :rolleyes:Most interesting fact is that now University says they are not aware of any PG Dept of Drama and Performing Arts despite the fact that it appears in their Annual Budget and they mention in almost every communication.

[davidbeckham 2]

1. There are lot of instances where students feel that the marks awarded to them/ evaluation is not reasonable. And even after applying for recaluation of answer scripts, the awarded may not be justified. In that case, disclosure of answer sheets is indeed a great idea for lazy/incapable evaluators and unversity board.

 

2. But, what if each and every student feels so. Can the board disclose everyone's ? every one of lakhs of students stying ?

 

3. The evaluation pattern of every evaluator may be different from others, so if students start comparing each others' answer script and mull over the marks fellow students have got whereas that particular student has lost marks over the same/similar answer, creating unneeded commotion or bitterness among students.

 

4. If at all the disclosure of answer scripts is possible, but they impose a fee for that, then not every student can afford to pay the fee to do so.

 

So, some careful analysis has to be done on disclosure of answer sheets which when implemented will do a lot of benefit of students and their future and will help in having a check on careless, incapable, not-qualified, evaluators.

[Karvin87 0]

I am a PG student and aggree completely with the subject.

Universities must be answerable to students.

So how can we from different cities bring about a change thru RTI in this matter??

[manoj kamra 4]

The matter is pending at Supreme Court, which has granted stay order on following decision:

 

49 page judgement of 2 judge bench of Hon’ble High Court of Calcutta in M.A.T. No. 275 of 2008 in University of Calcutta & ors. Vs. Pritam Rooj which is available at http://www.judis.nic.in/Kolkata/Judge_Result_Disp.asp.

 

%pdf not available---message received on clicking to open aforesaid url of 49-page decision.Please suggest how to open it.

[manoj kamra 4]

Dear Sir,

 

In Rajasthan, most students appear in exams in hindi medium.For english medium students,there is no separate examiners i.e.every teacher checks copies of both despite very very poor english.

 

The result has been very poor marking for some english medium students.In such situation, ELIGIBILITY OF EXAMINERS CAN BE VERY HELPFUL GROUND FOR DISCLOSURE OF ANSWER SHEETS (unfortunately pending at SC).

[karira 5,896]

In order to make it easy for the moderators, moving this thread to "RTI General Discussions"

[karira 5,896]

Reproducing a news item which appeared in The Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad Edition, on 19 April 2010:

Article

 

[jps50 1,580]

Once students get access to evaluated mark sheets under RTI or other procedure of University and they start complaining or filing writs etc, the entire system of evaluation will get automatically refined. There will be some procedural inconvenience and hue and cry for 2-3 years, but evaluators will also be more vigilant. This will be in overall benefit of future of our next generation. Otherwise, frustration and helplessness of youths will result in other social, law and order problems for the country, like naxalism and internal terrorism.

[sidmis 246]

OUR

RIGHT TO KNOW

 

Can answer sheets be disclosed? CIC to review own ruling

 

As reported by Himanshi Dhawan | TNN

 

 

New Delhi: The Central Information Commission (CIC) will set up a seven-member bench to assess whether evaluated answer sheets can be disclosed to citizens. The commission will be reviewing its own decision not to make answer sheets public.

 

The move comes after a St Stephen’s student approached the CIC demanding that she be able to access her answer sheets. The student, Sarah Cyriac, alleged that Delhi University (DU) had inadvertently mixed up her answer script with someone else’s. Chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah said, “We have decided to set up a seven-member bench to review the decision to not disclose evaluated answer sheets.” No date has been fixed yet.

 

The case against DU, however, points to the apathetic state of affairs in public institutions. In her submission to the CIC, Cyriac pointed out that she appeared for all six papers of BA (Hons) Economics final year exams held in April-May 2009 by DU. She was, however, marked ‘absent’ for one paper in which she had appeared and expected to score well. The scores for the rest of the papers averaged about 50% and were at variance with her earlier academic record. Cyriac said in her submission that she was a CBSE Class XII topper as well as a nominee of the HRD ministry’s Commonwealth Scholarship 2009.

 

As evidence, Cyriac produced attendance records that proved she had appeared for the exam. Within three days, university officials issued a fresh marksheet with a 50%

score in that paper also. Suspecting that there was a mixup in answer scripts, Criac approached DU in July 2009 for her answer scripts under RTI but was denied information.

 

CIC’s earlier decision said that with institutions having “an established system as foolproof as can be, and which, by their own rules, prohibit disclosure of evaluated answer sheets would result in rendering the system unworkable... We therefore decide that in such cases, a citizen cannot seek disclosure of the answer sheets under RTI Act, 2005.”

 

Article Window

[Guest pcbali]

Once students get access to evaluated mark sheets under RTI or other procedure of University and they start complaining or filing writs etc, the entire system of evaluation will get automatically refined. There will be some procedural inconvenience and hue and cry for 2-3 years, but evaluators will also be more vigilant. This will be in overall benefit of future of our next generation. Otherwise, frustration and helplessness of youths will result in other social, law and order problems for the country, like naxalism and internal terrorism.

 

I fully agree with Mr. jps50, if we want to save our next people from frustration, make clear paths for them.

[rajyadav017 44]

Its very serous matter answer sheets should be shown to the students, i have also seen the bright students not getting expected marks. Certainly there is flaws in the evaluating system it should be brought under the rti act.

 

thank you

[karira 5,896]

Attached is the order of the 3 member bench of the CIC in which it was decided to get the matter heard by a 7 member bench.

FB-15042010-01.pdf

[lakshminarayanan 0]

dear members

in my view answer books need to be disclosed - not to every one but only the concerned individual.

otherwise, the whole sanctity of the examination system will go. on the other hand, if it is not disclosed to the affected person, his whole future will be affected. who will compensate him for the loss?

[smbhappy 633]

I think they should disclose only to the students and not to everyone

 

If a thing is disclosed (even to students) the bird is out of hand and it is now in the public domain. What difference does it make if disclosed to a student or to every body?

[smbhappy 633]

3. The evaluation pattern of every evaluator may be different from others, so if students start comparing each others' answer script and mull over the marks fellow students have got whereas that particular student has lost marks over the same/similar answer, creating unneeded commotion or bitterness among students.

 

The procedure for evaluation is a set procedure and the marks are divided for each part of questions. If the rules are followed for checking the answer sheets, then there is no reasons that the marking is done fairly. But it is not the case.

 

I know a lecturer in music appointed as paper checker for the MA Hindi in Punjab University. He told me that he has checked 300 answer sheets in 6 hours. (The person appointed for the purpose have to go to the checking center and do the work only there - they are not sent the answer sheets at their homes to do the job). So he checked 50 sheets per hours @ little over a minute per answer sheet.

 

What do you think he has done?