Revaluation is not an easy route to pass an engineering exam if you are a student of Anna University. For, only 30 per cent of those who apply for revaluation manage to pass.
And, less than 50 per cent of those who apply for review after the revaluation get better scores, according to data provided by Anna University.
The number of students who apply for revaluation or even requesting for photocopies of their answer scripts has been steadily increasing in the last five years, however. From just 15,702 applications for photocopies then, it has gone up to 1,51, 291. But the number of scripts declared ‘pass’ after revaluation, however, remains almost the same.
A student must pay Rs. 300 for photocopy of each script and Rs. 400 for revaluation.
If a student is dissatisfied even after revaluation, the student can seek to challenge valuation for Rs. 3,000 per answer script. A student who passes in the review is refunded the money.
“As leaders in technical education, we have given the student this option,” says R. Raju, Additional Controller of Examination.
He points out that of the 65 lakh scripts every year, less than 10 per cent return for revaluation. “We have a system in place and our evaluators are paid the highest among all universities,” he adds.
Evaluators well paid
Mr. Raju gives a break-up of the university’s expenses: evaluators are paid Rs. 25 per answer paper. For revaluation, the teachers are paid Rs.30. Arts and Science Universities pay Rs. 7 to 9 per script.
The university pays Rs. 3,000 for each question paper and answer key setter.
“Every time the paper is re-evaluated a new dummy number is generated for each paper. The teachers who revalue the papers do not know the marks provided by the first examiner,” says G.V. Uma, Controller of Examination. When students apply for photocopies of the answer scripts they are couriered to the colleges.
“The paper is first checked by the student’s teacher, who then recommends a revaluation if necessary. In our experience we have noticed that genuine grievances are miniscule. These are the students who seek a review and even here only half of those who come for review pass,” points out Ms. Uma. They, however, admit that though the question papers and answer keys are set by highly qualified professors, they are forced to rely on less experienced teachers to correct the answer scripts.
“Quite a number of our students go to IIT for higher studies, but none of them return to teach,” Ms. Uma rues.