Flaws exposed

Chennai: A routine check of evaluated answer scripts of students in diploma in elementary education has pointed towards irregularities in the evaluation of answer scripts in which some answer scripts had marks difference as high as 40 marks.

Candidates who had given correct answers for less than 10 marks were awarded more than 50 marks enabling them to clear the exams. Subsequently, the directorate of government examinations has withheld the results of the examinations conducted in July 2018 and launched a full-fledged inquiry to find out as to why there is such a vast difference in marks.

The pass mark in the exam is 50 out of 100 marks.  During the June and July, annual exam over 15,000 students from first and second year appeared for the
examination out of which 3,000 have cleared it.

“Of 3,000 candidates who have cleared the exam, more than 2,500 students had inflated marks. There was no logic or reason for awarding pass marks to these students,” sources said.

 Along with evaluators, the chief examiners and supervisors also have failed to cross-check the answer scripts after evaluation

“In many answer sheets, the evaluators gave marks for all the answers without seeing whether the answer is correct or not,” sources added.

The DGE’s inquiry will focus on various aspects including whether the students were from any particular region or teacher training institutes. It will also focus on the possibility of the scam or racket in the evaluation.

However, teachers from the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) said there is a very slim possibility for a scam in the evaluation. At worst, it could be a case of negligence, they argued.

“The diploma holds no significant value after the introduction of Teachers Eligibility Test for recruitment. There is no guarantee for the job after finishing the course. So, there is a very remote chance for rigging the evaluation process,” one of the faculty members from DIET told this paper.

This year the evaluation took place in three places in Salem, Tiruchi and Tirunelveli.

“Due to the syllabus revision work, the faculty members from district institute of education and training (DIET) in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur could not participate in the
evaluation process.

This year more staff from self-financing teacher training institutes have evaluated answer scripts,” another faculty member explained a possible reason for negligence.

Some principals noted that the negligence in evaluation is going on for years.”The negligence is going on for years. But, the DGE is giving
importance only to the class 10 and plus-2 evaluation.  The exam results were delayed by four to five months every year,” a principal said.

Candidates must clear plus-2 for getting admission into the diploma course. Most of the institutes are not attracting bright students due to no prospect of
jobs.

In Tamil Nadu, more than 15,000 students are studying in 403 teacher training institutes including 32 district institute of education and training and 321 self-financing teacher training institutes.