A large scale alleged irregularity in connection with the M.A. (part I and II) examination under the directorate of the open and distance learning (DODL) of Kalyani University (KU) rocked the campus Sunday at the backdrop against the regular leakage of question papers of the ongoing secondary exam conducted by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE).
The irregularities in conducting the exam has prompted professor Alok Kumar Ghosh, former head of history department and the chairman of the board of studies in the KU that looks after setting of question papers in the university, to resign.
Senior teachers in the university alleged that trouble started on Sunday when many candidates who had their exam centres at the KU itself found the year 2019 mentioned in the question papers distributed among the latter instead of the year 2018. This prompted the candidates to raise protest against the irregularity.
According to the students, the question papers should have mentioned the year 2018 because they are the examinees of that year and not 2019.
In another case, question papers of semester (I) exam of the internal assessment in M.A. in English scheduled on 24 February were also surprisingly given to the examinees on Sunday (17 February).
The admit cards issued to the candidates were signed and countersigned by Mr Manas Kumar Adhikari, director of DODL, and Mr Sushil Kumar Mondal, in-charge of exam (DODL) ignoring the controller of exam professor Bimalendu Biswas who is the sole signing authority.
Sensing trouble, the authority cancelled the admit cards on Saturday evening, hardly 12 hours before the exam of the M.A. (Part I and II) which was held on Sunday.
Teachers alleged that the examinations were held illegally flouting the exam rules of the KU. “We have never found any question papers where the concerned university’s name was mentioned in our academic career. Unfortunately, this time we found the name of our university being mentioned in the question paper,” a senior professor of KU said. The questions were set ignoring the board of studies this time, they alleged. “I resigned as the head of board of the studies on 14 February because I was not satisfied with the system going on in the DODL in the university,” professor Ghosh told The Statesman.
“I have no idea about all these since no one complained about it so far. I will look into the matters once I get any written complaints,” said professor Shankar Ghosh, vice chancellor of Kalyani University. “We have set the question papers taking opinions of many members of the board,” he added.
On Sunday, around 15,000 candidates sat in the MA (part I and II) exam in English, Bengali, History, Education etc conducted by the KU in different centres at 18 colleges affiliated to the university.
The university has also arranged several other centres in colleges in Cooch Behar, Malda and Mursidabad considering the trouble of candidates residing in these districts.