Goof-ups in Telangana intermediate exams worry students

Hyderabad, April 22 (IANS) The goof-ups by Telangana education authorities in declaring the results of Class 11 and 12 have left students and their parents worried and also evoked protests from opposition parties and student groups.

Ever since the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) announced the results of intermediate first year and second year (11th and 12th standard) on April 18, blunders in valuation of papers, awarding marks and preparation of mark-sheets have come to light.

In perhaps the biggest blunder, a student was given zero mark in Telugu subject in intermediate second year.

G. Navya of Mancherial district was shocked to see the result as she was one of the district toppers with 98 marks in the same subject in the first year.

When a leading Telugu daily carried her story, the BIE officials swung into action and after re-verification gave her 99 marks.

But others were not lucky like her.

Many students along with their parents were seen outside the BIE office but there was nobody to address their grievances as the premises were out of bounds due to series of protests by opposition parties and student groups, which alleged that the government was playing with the future of the students.

The opposition parties claimed that 18 students have committed suicides due to the bungling by authorities but the officials denied that deaths were related to the mistakes.

Amid the continuing protests, BIE Secretary Ashok on Monday said there were few technical errors at the local level. He said those who committed the mistakes would be issued memo and penalty would be imposed on them.

He said the board was working in a transparent and efficient manner but some people were spreading falsehood about it. He denied that 21,000 answer sheets were missing and said those having doubts can apply for recounting of marks or re-verification of answer sheets.

However, students and their parents complained that there was no system to address their concers. Those who tried to apply online for re-verification were disappointed as BIE website was not working.

Even the telephone helpline was of no help to the worried students and their wards.

Meanwhile, taking a serious view of the happenings, the government on Monday ordered an inquiry into the alleged lapses in the system deployed by Globarena Technologies, whose services were hired by BIE to conduct the exams.

A three-member committee headed by G.T. Venkateswar Rao, Managing Director, Telangana State Technological Service, will find out whether there were any errors in publication of results on account of any systemic errors of the agency.

The committee, which also has Professor A. Vassan of BITS Hyderabad and Professor Nishanth Dongari of IIT Hyderabad as members, has been asked to submit report in three days.

Meanwhile, the main opposition Congress party has demanded a probe by a sitting judge into the lapses by BIE. It blamed the government for the suicide of 18 students who took the extreme step as they failed in the examination.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) also staged a protest. Police arrested the protestors who raised slogans and tried to barge into the BIE office.

A total of 9 lakh students had appeared in the intermediate exams held in February-March. The pass percentage in the first year was 60.5 while in the second year 64.8 per cent students passed the exam.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)