Around 400 medical undergraduate students who could not clear their final-year exams this year by less than 10 marks have accused the Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS) of ignoring their demand for a re-evaluation of results.
One of them told The Hindu on Wednesday that the results were published on March 24, a day before the country went into a lockdown to contain COVID-19. “So far, there has been no reply to the emails we sent to the Chief Minister, Health Minister, and the Vice Chancellor regarding re-evaluation,” he alleged.
Exams in March
The exams were held in the first week of March and the results were published within less than three weeks. The students said the evaluation was held only for six days. In one self-financing medical college in Kozhikode district, 11 students in a batch of 57 failed by just one mark. Twenty five students in that batch reportedly failed in only one paper. One student reportedly scored good marks in the theory exams, but fell short of one mark in the practicals.
According to the students, 31 of them failed in the exams in Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, 24 in Kozhikode, 20 in Palakkad, 15 in Thrissur, Kottayam and Pariyaram, and 12 in Alappuzha. Thirty eight students failed in a self-financing medical college in Ernakulam. The number of those who failed in similar colleges in Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, and Malappuram were 30 and above. The students claimed the number might be more, as many were not forthcoming to express their views fearing reprisal.
Promise to students
The students were promised recalculation of marks, called re-totalling, and provision of mark list by April second week. But the authorities were yet to do so. According to the university’s rules, those who did not clear the exams could appear for the supplementary exams only after six months. But the students said they were not sure if they would be able to do as academic activities were delayed due to the COVID-19 scenario. They were also concerned about losing an year.
University authorities, however, claimed that the results were not announced in haste. “The university has a two-layer system of evaluation where the average of the two marks is taken as final. If there is a 15% difference between the two, it will go to a third evaluator and the average of the highest two is taken as the final. Despite this, if the students have any complaint, they can approach the grievance cell headed by the Pro Vice-Chancellor. Re-evaluation is rare,” said an official.
