As an immediate fallout of the furore over the II pre-university (PU) results, the results of two crucial entrance exams for admissions to professional courses have been postponed.
Acting on the request of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, the Higher Education Department has decided to put off the announcement of the results of the Common Entrance Test (CET) by eight days from May 26.
At the same time, the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK) too announced that the results of the Undergraduate Entrance Test would now be declared on June 8, instead of May 30.
Upset over what they term as “discrepancies” in the II PU results, a section of students and parents has been demanding deferment of the results until problems in the PU results are solved. They feared that re-evaluation or re-totalling would impact their CET ranking.
A.S. Srikanth, Chief Executive Officer of COMEDK, said, “Even if a student has secured a good COMEDK rank, he won’t be eligible for admissions if his PU results show that he has failed. Only after the confusion is cleared, can the results be announced.”
Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar, who held two press conferences on Friday — the fourth day of protests against the results — said the government would announce the CET results after clearing the applications filed by aggrieved students for re-evaluation and re-totalling of papers. Denying that there were discrepancies in the evaluation process, he said efforts would be made to clear all applications for re-evaluation, re-totalling and photocopy of the answer scripts within a week.
The Minister also clarified that those who have been marked absent erroneously need not apply for re-evaluation. Instead, they have been asked to submit requests through their colleges, which have also been instructed to forward them to the department. He, however, said action cannot be initiated against any official without an inquiry. “The Principal Secretary (Rajkumar Khatri) will conduct a detailed probe and action will be initiated against those found guilty,” Mr. Ratnakar said.
The Department of Pre-University Education had received 2,825 applications for re-evaluation and 10,115 applications (for 20,623 papers) for photocopying, he said.
