Ludhiana, May 16
Hundreds of students who appeared for the MA/MSc 2nd year mathematics paper of “Differential Geometry” on April 20, conducted by Panjab University, have threatened to start a relay fast if the paper is not conducted again soon.
The students have complained that more than 80 per cent of the paper was not according to the syllabus. The students are not in favour of being awarded grace marks, according to their spokesperson Lalit Gupta.
Gupta said they had registered their complaint in this regard and a report had appeared in Ludhiana Tribune on April 21. They thought the university would set a date for a re-examination, but in vain.
Some Ludhiana students, along with Hoshiarpur students, went to Chandigarh to meet the Vice-Chancellor to tell him the question paper was not of the M.Sc level. Rather it was beyond the prescribed norm in the syllabus.
The paper seemed to be of the IIT/M.Phil/ PhD level. But unfortunately, Prof. K. N. Pathak, Vice-Chancellor, was not in town. The secretary to the Vice-Chancellor, Mr Sushi Kumar, told the students that a panel would decide about it. Lalit said then they met Ms Sudesh Kaur, Head of the Mathematics Department, Panjab University. She too told them that a panel would be set up and then the students would be informed.
The students are still waiting for a new date when their exam would be reconducted.
The merit holders complain that the paper had dashed their hopes to the ground of securing a position in the merit list. “This time instead of obtaining a position in the merit list, we are afraid that we might even lose a year,” said Lalit Mohan of Ahmedgarh.
He said they were also worried that even if they were awarded grace marks, they would not be able to fulfil the UGC condition related to eligibility for the post of college lecturers. “Since 80 per cent of the paper was out of syllabus, if we are given even 20 per cent grace marks, we would not be able to score more than 40 per cent in the total,” said Lalit Gupta.
Not only this, after this paper, the exam of “Topology and Functional Analysis”, dated April 30, was also carried incorrect statements and some questions were out of course. The overall paper was beyond the understanding of an average students.
Some statements and symbols were wrong and misleading. Students Lalit, Anshu, Nitin, Abhishek and Chitra said they were shocked with the kind of question papers they were getting this time. “It seemed as if the paper setters were playing with our careers,” said the students. The students said they had already sent a copy of their representation to the President of India for inquiry.
