Hyderabad: Final year MBBS students have demanded revaluation of their answer scripts as many of them scored fewer marks in the final examinations which they blamed on the newly-introduced digital evaluation.
According to the Junior Doctors Associations (JUDA), there could be slip-ups in correction of papers at every step starting from the exam centre due to lack of a standardised instruction list. Ambiguous instructions to examiners have resulted in utter chaos, parents and JUDA said.
JUDA chairman Dr P.S. Vijayender said, “6,000 students took the examination and each student was given a 32-page answer script. It is a laborious task to scan almost 1.92 lakh pages. During scanning, there is a probability of missing out or overlapping of pages and scanning is subjected to technical and mechanical aberrations.”
The parent of an MBBS final student said this was the first time digital valuation was being conducted. He said in digital evaluation, the marks once awarded is locked and it cannot be changed even if the evaluator finds a discrepancy and wants to change it.
Another parent said that at one of the centres, students were asked to start the answer of every question on a new page. At the same time, additional answer scripts were not provided, leaving students to crunch their answers. “There is a high probability of margins being lost during scanning, which would result in question numbers being missed. This might result in non-evaluation of answers,” he said.
Dismissing the link between low marks and digital evaluation, Dr B. Karunakar Reddy, Vice-Chancellor, Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences, said, “Students are marked for what they have written. If the paper is a little tough, there are chances they may lose marks but I don’t think digital evaluation has anything to do with.” He said 100 to 150 professors were correcting the papers, and digital evaluation was the most transparent system. Students should work hard as they have only four subjects in the final year, he said.
