Students write examination utilizing cellular flashlights at govt-run Maharajas College in Kerala

By Express News Service

KOCHI: Maharajas College Ernakulam, run by the federal government, has triggered an issue after undergraduate and postgraduate college students had been compelled to write down examinations with the assistance of cell phone flashlights following an influence outage.

Due to the heavy rains on Monday, the school confronted an influence outage and a majority of the examination halls received immersed in darkness. When the fearful college students received agitated, the invigilators allowed them to write down the examinations with the assistance of cell phone flashlights, flouting the rule that bars cellphones inside examination halls.  

Being an autonomous faculty, the authorities might have cancelled the examination and introduced a retest as the scholars wrote the take a look at holding cellular flashlights in a single hand for 2 hours. The utility of the ability generator, purchased at the price of Rs 77 lakh by the school, has additionally been questioned by the scholars.

V Anil, the school principal, stated an evidence had been sought from the examination superintendent and the individual has submitted the identical. “The explanation provided by the superintendent will be analysed at the examination standing committee meeting on Wednesday. Measures like cancellation of the examination and disciplinary action against the invigilators will be decided at the standing committee meeting. The final decision will be made at the governing council meeting,” he stated.

However, a lecturer stated, “The result will be invigilators being made the scapegoats.” According to the lecturer, who wished to stay nameless, this case occurred when the RUSA (Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan) fund to the tune of Rs 54 lakh was used to arrange a excessive pressure line for the school. “It was hyped that the HT line will forever solve the power outage problems of the college. But the reverse happened and that too during the examination. Instead of setting up standby measures like generators, the authorities acted lackadaisically,” alleged one other lecturer.

“Can you imagine a situation when the invigilators have to call the KSEB themselves to get the power outage situation rectified?” requested the lecturer. “When the teachers contacted the examination superintendent, he told them to allow mobile phones,” stated the lecturer. An assistant professor stated, “Ours is an autonomous college that sets its examination timetable and question papers. The authorities could have cancelled the examination instead of allowing mobile phones inside the hall. We have become a laughing stock in the academic community.”

Examination-in-charge P P Ramesh, nevertheless, stated the cell phone flashlights had been used just for a brief interval. “Allegations that students had written the entire examination using the mobile phone flashlights are not correct. The power outage happened at around 10 am. Since this is an HT connection, KSEB engineers are not the ones who are in charge of taking care of the problems with the transformer. We had to call in the PWD engineers. During that short period, the students were allowed to use mobile phones to enter their details on the front page of the answer sheets,” he stated.

But in a short while, the ability was restored and the scholars wrote the examination, Ramesh stated.