Race to the top: These colleges in K'taka are bending rules to get the top rank

Karnataka's Vijayanagara Sri Krishnadevaraya University (VSKU)  in Ballari district finds itself embroiled in controversy yet again. Discrepancies have been reported in the internal marks awarded to students of the Bachelor of Education (BEd) course in the second semester for the 2021-22 academic year.

More than 20 BEd colleges in Ballari, Vijayanagar, Raichur and Koppal districts are affiliated with the university, which has been hit by academic controversies often, according to a report by The New Indian Express. Now, it has come to light that in the second-semester results of the BEd course, which was announced recently, some colleges have been found flouting norms in order to push their respective performance. 

As per norms, the maximum marks awarded out of a total of 280 marks should not exceed 252 marks for the examinee in the internal assessments. However, two examinees of Shah Bhawarlal College of Hospet have allegedly been given more than 252 marks purportedly to get ranks for college, reported TNIE. Some other BEd colleges under the varsity have objected strongly to the same and shot missives to VSKU in this regard. The varsity's committee on the assessment of semester-wise internal marks of students is supposed to review the internal marks of examinees after every semester's exams, sources privy to the varsity told TNIE on Friday, June 10.

Such issues are not new for the university and in a similar instance earlier, penalties were imposed on the colleges that flouted the rules. "Despite this, the varsity has committed the same mistake again," a lecturer of the varsity told TNIE on Friday, on the condition of anonymity. However, the varsity Registrar (Evaluation) Ramesh Valikar told TNIE that the issue will be probed into and appropriate action will be initiated against those found guilty and the colleges concerned. "Such errors by other colleges, if any, will also be looked into," he added.