MBBS students at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), Bengaluru have been left in a limbo as their results have not been declared by the university yet, with just 35 days left for their next year exams to commence. Students had earlier staged protests demanding that a new evaluation scheme be implemented.
To recall, the students' results were declared in June. Around 500 students from the first year claimed that they had failed the exams by just two to three marks due to the evaluation scheme. The university had brought out an ordinance in April notifying about a new evaluation scheme and the students stated that had this scheme been implemented by the time their results were declared, they would have passed. But the new scheme was implemented much later in September.
Taking the legal route
The students then approached the High Court and the case went on for five months. On November 9, the court pronounced an order based on the university's April ordinance and directed that the new scheme be implemented for the students. This, the students claim, was in their favour. A time of two weeks was awarded to the university to conduct the re-evaluation and declare the revised results.
Students informed EdexLive that the university tried to re-appeal the decision of the High Court, seeking clarification. However, the court once again directed last week that the results have to be released immediately according to the new evaluation scheme. The court order dated December 17 read, "University is directed to declare the fresh results of the petitioners by taking into account and computing the average of two highest marks awarded among all the evaluators as expeditiously as possible. The respondent shall complete the entire exercise and comply with the aforesaid directions within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of this copy of order." The same observation was earlier made by the court on September 22, 2022 according to the order, which EdexLive has a copy of.
However, the results have still not been declared yet. With their exams beginning from January 23, they are unsure if they should study for the next year's exam or repeat the current year's exams. "It is destroying the mindset of students. What if results are announced just one or two days ahead of the exams. How will the students prepare then?" a student said on the condition of anonymity.
The All India Medical Students' Association (AIMSA) called on the Vice-Chancellor of the university on Twitter to resolve the issue immediately. "This whole court process has been going on for two months and now just 35 days are left for exams but results haven't been announced yet," they stated in a tweet.
What was the problem with the evaluation scheme?
Students were informed that as per the old evaluation process, an aggregate of the marks given by the two evaluators was considered to calculate the results. However, with the new system, the best of the marks given by the evaluators would be considered. With implementation of the new system, many failed students would be able to earn passing marks in the results, they said.
