Another issue has come into limelight regarding our education system. This time, the students of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) were upset with the administration on how their answer sheets were evaluated this academic session.
Since Friday, July 13, many students from various colleges of Pune, Nashik, and neighboring cities, which are affiliated to SPPU, were protesting because their answer sheets were being evaluated on the basis of the old 2012 pattern, which is percentage based, as opposed to the new credit system of 2015 under which these students took admission.
The University officials said that they had issued a circular during examinations stating that the evaluation would be done on the basis of the old system, regardless of the system under which students took admission. According to the government resolution dated May 18, 2018, the science and technology branch will adhere to the 2015 examination pattern for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th year engineering students, and the results will be declared following the same pattern. The 2015 examination pattern follows the credit-rating system. Most of the engineering students had already appeared for the exams, without any inkling of change, by the time the GR was sent to all accredited engineering colleges on May 18.
The problem with the percentage system is that a student has to pass a certain number of subjects (three theory and two practical papers) to be promoted to the next class, while credit based system promotes you into the next class if you’ve scored 50% credit or more. It just takes into account the credits earned and promotion to the next class is independent of the passing marks of theory and practical exams.
The problem, here, does not lie with the evaluation system. An autonomous university has the full right to decide on any form of evaluation but the students were mainly angry because they took admission and filled their examination forms under the new credit-based system. But the change by the university at the last moment resulted in many students failing the examinations.
“I am a student of the 2014 pattern of engineering, where we had a passing percentage per subject. As long as one scored the passing mark, they will be promoted to the next year. But later, according to the government resolution, the exam pattern was changed to the 2015 exam pattern, which offered a credit rating system of 50 points to students. When we appeared for our exams, we were informed that our results would be according to the old pattern, but when we got the exam results, I was shocked to see that I failed despite getting the passing percentage. The university had calculated my marks according to the credit rating system. This is not fair”, said Manish Patil, a second-year student of MIT College of Engineering, Alandi, who failed in five subjects and is supposed to repeat a year in college.
This led to students revolting and demanding a reversal in the evaluation criterion.
The University reversed its decision in a statement issued on Saturday, July 14, stating that all students will be assessed as per the 2015 credit-based system from now on. This year’s mark sheets will remain the same, but qualifying criteria for the next batch will be as per the credit-based system.
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