Karnataka High Court will be hearing the petition of Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET) 2022 repeaters again today, August 22. The matter was adjourned from August 18, Thursday to August 22, today because the statement of objections was presented and the counsel on behalf of KCET repeaters asked the court for time to prepare arguments.
Additionally, the court made a proposition to the state government asking if 75% of KCET marks and 25% of PUC marks for the repeaters students can be considered. This was in order to strike a balance between the freshers and the repeaters. It was clarified that this was only a suggestion, not the final order.
EdexLive has been speaking to several students since the protest started. Now that the case is scheduled to be heard today, we compile all their responses here. Read on to find out what is it that students stand to lose:
This affects 24,000 students
Dhanush Kumar, whose sister is a KCET dropper from last year, said that the court case is leaning towards their side at the moment. “Everything points towards the mistake of the authorities, such as, the fact that there was no notification that informed students that their PU results won’t be considered,” he told EdexLive. A stay order needs to be brought on the counselling process, he said.
If the decision doesn’t go in their favour, it will affect 24,000 students, said Kumar. “We won’t get seats in the college we want, we will end up getting management quota,” he added.
New mode of evaluation?
Other KCET repeaters also believe that the decision will be taken to benefit them. “It is a clear mistake from their side and I think they will come up with a new mode of evaluation for students,” said Suhas Papanashi, who appeared for the KCET last year as well. This year, he received a rank that went above one lakh.
Career at stake
A few also said that the decision would have huge implications on their career. “If PU marks won’t be considered, then our whole career will be spoiled. All the hard work we did will be done and dusted,” said Tharun A, who is also a KCET dropper from last year.
Unifying criteria, please
In 2021, according to the GO, the PU II marks were not included in the KCET rankings for any of the students, either freshers or repeaters. "When there was uniformity last year, why not ensure it this year as well? This is a common entrance exam. There should be unifying criteria for everyone. Them not considering our marks and taking those of the freshers is just discriminatory," claims one student from the 2021 PU II batch, who wrote the KCET for a second time this year.
On the condition of anonymity, she goes on to add, "They did not inform us beforehand. If they had, we would have taken whatever seats we were getting last year itself. I scored 68 marks in the KCET last year and my ranking was 38,000. This year, I scored 101 marks and my ranking was 72,000. I will not get a good seat in any college now." The student from Bengaluru was aiming to pursue Engineering in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or Electronics and Communications Engineering.
What will these ranks get them?
Sadashiv Hiremat, a 19-year-old PU II student from the 2021-22 batch from the Bagalkot district in Karnataka, also attempted the KCET exam for the second time this year. He is one of the petitioners in the batch that the Karnataka High Court will hear on August 18. "The ranks that we have been left with will not even get us into Tier III colleges or even in courses such as Forestry or Agriculture. The authorities should have informed us beforehand that our marks will not be considered in the KCET rank. And now that this has been done, they should either decide the rank based on KCET scores only or ensure that some weightage be given to our PU II scores as well in the KCET rank," he says.
The COVID batch
"We are also the COVID batch. We also had to adjust to studying online and we struggled to understand concepts. It took us time to adjust and so we thought we would take the exam this year again to improve our ranks. It is not fair to think we have an advantage just because we did not write the exam or got 5% grace marks for our PU II last year. This year, the batch that wrote the exam had more choice in their question papers than ever and that added up to almost 40 marks. That in itself equalises the disparity that might have been caused by us not writing the exam last year," says a KCET repeater from the 2021 batch of PU II students.
Letter to the PM
Two students from Vijayapura wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the issue. The letter stated:
"Dear Prime Minister Modiji, We are a group of students numbering about 24,000 who wrote the KCET examination a couple of months ago. It is extremely painful to note that we have been denied a fair opportunity to be evaluated in KCET. The reason is because they have not considered the PUC Board marks allotted to us in the second year PU final exams because we passed during Covid times, and since the examination was not held, they allotted grace marks to us. This is a serious lapse affecting the lives of 24,000 students and their families.
We would request your kind self to intervene and ensure that justice is served... in contrast, the other students received the benefit of their marks of final exams PUC. Director Ramya, IAS, claimed that since the marks allotted to us are grace marks, they shall not be considered. Thereby she was trying to pass off their incompetence and profession inability to hold exams and fairly evaluate us on our heads..."
