Mumbai: In yet another blunder, the University of Mumbai (MU) on Tuesday handed out a question paper based on the old syllabus for the fifth semester LLB ATKT (Allowed To Keep Terms) examination. The mix-up led to confusion and stress among students, who were given the correct paper only after a delay of almost 30 minutes.
The ATKT examination system allows students to progress to the next academic year despite failing in one or more subjects, provided they clear the failed subjects within a stipulated time.
A final-year LLB student who sat for the Labour Law & Industrial Relations – II exam told The Free Press Journal, “Receiving a question paper based on a syllabus that was discontinued more than three years ago was devastating. It threw us completely off track. Even after the new paper arrived, our confidence was already shaken. We couldn’t focus as we had mentally prepared for the correct syllabus.”
While Yuva Sena leaders claimed that as many as 60 colleges received the incorrect question paper, the university clarified in a statement that only 30 colleges were affected and approximately 2,000 students appeared for the wrongly administered exam.
The university issued a clarification, stating: “The question paper was sent from the handwritten manuscripts section at 9:30 AM. However, shortly thereafter, the college informed us that the question paper sent was as per the old syllabus. Upon verification, it was found that the question paper had indeed been submitted by the question paper setter as per the old syllabus. The link to the concerned paper was immediately closed, and a new paper was sent. Students were given an additional 30 minutes, and all colleges were informed about the same via phone.”
Yuva Sena senate members, who have consistently criticised the university for mismanagement in its examination department and the Centre for Distance and Online Education (CDOE), earlier known as the Institute of Distance and Open Learning (IDOL), reiterated their demand for accountability.
“For the past one and a half years, we have been demanding a joint meeting to address the University of Mumbai’s repeated mismanagement in the examination department and the Centre for Distance and Online Education. But the administration continues to ignore us. Even today, during the third-year law exam, the fifth-semester students were given a question paper from the old syllabus. It took half an hour to correct this after students raised the issue. This is yet another instance in the ongoing series of blunders,” said a Yuva Sena representative.
They further questioned whether the Controller of Examinations and the Director of the exam department would finally take moral responsibility and resign.
This comes merely a month after the university infamously and erroneously printed and distributed degree certificates with “University of Mumabai” written over the emblem to the graduating batch of 2023-24.
