MU to scrap rider on revaluation?

Proposal seeks that every student be given right to demand reassement of their papers

Kanchan Srivastava

Rajesh Sharma (name changed) is keeping his fingers crossed on a proposal to change the answer sheet revaluation criterion at the University of Mumbai (MU). The BCom student, who had secured just five marks in a paper this year, hopes that the rider to applying for revaluation — securing at least 20% of the total marks in a subject — will be done away with.  The MU is considering the proposal to scrap such a bar and to allow even students who score a zero to apply for revaluation of their answer sheets. The proposal, mooted by Subhash Deo, director of examinations, MU, seeks that every student be given the right to demand revaluation of his/her paper and that there should be no cut-off mark to apply for it. As per an MU rule, a student needs to have at least 20% of the total score, or alternatively, 40% of the passing mark, to do so.  This rule left thousands of students who failed to clear their paper with just one option: sit an examination again. The MU has close to 6.5 lakh students, of which over a lakh apply for revaluation each year. Scrapping the condition on applying for reassessment is expected to help at least two lakh such students. Sharma wishes that the move had come a year earlier. “My friends who were eligible applied for revaluation and passed. I will have to sit the examination in October.”  A college principal, however, feels that such a decision could backfire. “This could be a wrong move. I don’t know how the examination house will deal with the excess workload, which may rise multi-fold. It already struggles to meet the deadline for revaluation.” Another college principal says the MU should push the envelope instead. “It should actually raise the bar, as I have seen that most failed students pass after revaluation [of the answer sheets].” Deo claims, “We have improved the assessment system this year and are going to make it better in future. If our evaluation is good, we don’t think students need to apply for revaluation. Moreover, we have set a deadline of September15 to clear all revaluation work of the March examination.” Source:::: DNA, 18-08-2012, p.04, http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=24969&boxid=16157&ed_date=2012-08-18&ed_code=820009&ed_page=4