Scoring well in exams if you are studying in Bangalore University (BU) apparently comes with a price tag, if some members of the university’s Academic Council are to be believed. At the council’s meeting here on Friday, allegations were made about how some custodians of answer scripts of undergraduate courses had “sold themselves”.
“Students have to pay Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 5,000 and they get 80 per cent and above,” said council member H. Karan Kumar, and named the custodians in four evaluation centres allegedly involved in such practices. They are custodians at the valuation centre for commerce (third and sixth semesters) at United Mission’s Degree College, science valuation centre at Maharani’s College, BCA valuation centre at Mariappa College, Rajajinagar, and commerce (first semester and annual scheme) valuation centre at the City College, Jayanagar.
M. Ramachandra Gowda said that he had heard allegations about the involvement of the non-teaching staff who transported the answer scripts.
When Jagadish Prakash suggested that no private colleges should be made valuation centres and only government and university teachers should be appointed custodians, it created a furore among council members representing private colleges.
R.K. Somashekhar, Registrar (Evaluation), said, “We have appointed nine custodians, all principals — six from government colleges and three from private. Even before evaluation began, I heard such rumours and called a meeting to identify the culprits. If the charges are proved, we will recall the custodians immediately.”
He defended the valuation system and said, “After the answer scripts are scanned, only the dummy register numbers are available. So no malpractice is possible at this stage.”
Not the first
This is not the first exam scam to hit the varsity. In November last year, a sting operation by a political student wing had revealed how answer scripts were sneaked out of evaluation centres for a price.
Candidates could make changes in them after paying Rs. 10,000 and the answer scripts would then be returned to the centres. This forced to the authorities to announce steps to strengthen security at evaluation centres.
