Karnataka government asked to reconsider marks given in II PU English paper

With many II PU students not clearing the English paper, educationalists and lecturers have asked the State government to reconsider the marks secured by students in the paper, the exam for which was held on June 18, during the COVID-19 restrictions.

As per analysis by the Dakshina Kannada PU Principals’ Association, nearly 700 students from the district have failed in English. Nearly 7,500 students from the district have scored low in the subject.

A. Vittala, principal of Kittel Memorial PU College, said a majority of those who failed were from rural areas, and those students had been denied teachers’ help in their preparation because of the COVID-19 restrictions. “My college records 100% results every year. This year, 10 of our students failed in the English paper alone,” he said. As many as 25 students from the Government PU College at Vamadapadavu failed in English. “This is not just the scene of our district; it is so across the State,” Mr. Vittala added.

The primary reason for the poor performance, an English lecturer pointed out, was the difficulty level of question paper. “Not just slow learners, but even good students found it hard to answer questions that were different from the blueprint,” said C.K. Manjunath, former principal of Vivekananda PU College, Puttur.

Among the questions that were difficult, the English lecturer said, was question no. 24 related to an “unseen passage” that needed students to answer 10 questions of one mark each. “Usually the answers are direct as the student answers in a word or a single sentence. It is here that slow learners get maximum marks. It was not the case this time as the questions were indirect and there were multiple answers,” he said, adding that many students did not even attempt this question.

Another English lecturer said that in the 13 questions carrying six and four marks, there were none from the poetry section, while two were from the prose section. Moreover, there was no English subject expert as chief examiner at many of the evaluation centres to understand the problem. “At some centres, the evaluators were liberal, while in other centres, they have gone strictly as per the answer code provided,” he said.

Mr. Manjunath said that seeing the difficult situation under which students wrote the paper, the State government should consider taking another look at the marks given and look to give passing marks to those who failed. “This is necessary in the interest of the students’ careers,” he said.