Students from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) in Bengaluru protested against the university on Wednesday, January 8, claiming 'unfair evaluation' in their exams. The students said that over 1,000 among them are affected by inconsistent grading, with most of them even failing, stated a report by The New Indian Express.
The university has been following a system where two evaluators grade a paper, and the average of their scores is considered. Students, however, have demanded a change, asking the university to adopt a new method where the higher of the two scores is used as the final result instead of averaging the scores.
Students have alleged that the issue of unfair valuation has been ongoing for the past two years due to discrepancies caused by one of the two evaluators who, according to them, does not assess the papers properly.
“This is not a problem affecting just one or two students. It is a widespread issue,” Abhishiek, a protesting student, said. Highlighting the instances, he pointed out differences in scores given by two evaluators.
In one case, a student received 64 marks from one of the evaluators, however, the same paper was marked 8 by the second evaluator.
Similarly, for another student, one evaluator gave 58 marks, while the other awarded just 4 marks. Students argue that these inconsistencies have led to failing grades and have demanded immediate action to rectify the system, stated a report by The New Indian Express.
“The marks are completely out of context, and this is why we are facing such problems,” Aditi, an MBBS student, said. She highlighted the pass percentage, mentioning that only 28% of students have cleared the examination. “Out of 100 students who appeared, only 28 have passed. In total, 1,600 students took the exam, and 1,300 of them failed. Only 300 have managed to pass,” she added.
The protestors demanded that the university take immediate action to address such discrepancies, remove unfair practices, and re-release the results in a fair and transparent manner to ensure justice for students.
A senior official from the university told The New Indian Express that a re-release of the results would not be possible, citing the impracticality of re-computing marks for such a large number of students. However, the official mentioned that discussions on the issue are ongoing.
“The matter is being taken up with the vice-chancellor, registrar and syndicate panel to find a solution at the earliest,” the official said.
