DU exam mess: VC orders probe

There was much chaos at the examination centres of the university as students who were to appear for the contemporary English examination got a question paper of another subject.

After a hue and cry was raised at all the centres, the examiners were contacted, following which the correct paper was retrieved and sent to the centres.

Similar problems were reported from examination centres where Sanskrit and Tamil students were appearing for their papers.

By the time the correct papers reached, it was already past 11 am at many centres where the paper was to end at 11 am, said a teacher, who was present at the centre.

While a section of teachers at the University termed it an "administrative lapse" and blamed the examination office for the goof up, the University administration shot back and said the responsibility of setting the question papers and providing them to the examination office with correct code numbers lies with the departments concerned.

In a hurriedly called press conference, the Vice Chancellor did take moral responsibility for the incident but told the media that he was surprised at the teachers' blaming the examination office when the responsibility for the goof up lies with the department.

"We will conduct an inquiry. We will not let those responsible get away with this," he said.

He said the Head of the Sanskrit department had already acknowledged that it was their fault and the matter was being pursued with the English department.

University officials said the exam papers are received by the examination office in sealed envelops with codes and problem occurred due to an error in codes printed on the papers.

"The primary responsibility in the preparation of the question paper resides with the concerned departments as the matter deals with their disciplines and all technical aspects with respect to the question papers such as the paper number that designates the category of students for whom the paper is being set, its nomenclature, the actual quality of the questions the marks allotted and the duration," said a clarification issued by the varsity.

The students of BA (Honours) have to study a language paper and are free to chose between different languages at the beginning of the year.

A major chunk of students usually pick up contemporary English paper, while some go for Hindi, Sanskrit and other languages.

Instead of the English paper, the students today were given 'Individual & Society' paper.