Hubballi: The pre-university wing of the school education department delegated the conduct of first-year PU examinations to individual colleges, with exams scheduled between Feb 10 and 25.
The order, dated Jan 17, came at a time when the department was grappling with question paper leak incidents during second-year PU preparatory examinations, particularly in some private colleges. Lecturers and education enthusiasts raised concerns that the heightened focus on second-year exams resulted in lax oversight of first-year assessments.
As colleges are permitted to set question papers and conduct exams independently, teachers alleged that uniformity, quality, and credibility could be compromised. Faculty members sought clearer guidelines and monitoring mechanisms to ensure fairness and transparency in PU-1 evaluations across institutions. BC Goudar, trustee, Adarsh PU Science College, Hubballi, told TOI that earlier, the board or district principals’ association used to hold exams on the same dates in the districts. “The current move diminishes the seriousness of the exam, and students treat them like exams of lower classes. The department has neither given model question papers nor a blueprint, but instructed colleges to follow the second year’s model question papers. There is no scheme of evaluation as such. At the other end, it reduced passing marks to 33%, and internal assessment is up to 20%. There is no mechanism to verify whether colleges hold exams or not, and whether they evaluate strictly or not. This will enhance unhealthy competition among private colleges, and it will affect the performance of colleges who follow rules strictly,” he opined. B Sripad Bhat, an educationist in Bengaluru, said that it was a result of confusion prevailing in the state’s education sector. “One doesn’t know whether we are following NEP or SEP. Students attending college exams, will definitely face difficulties in the boards and face setbacks in competitive exams like NEET, JEE, and other national and international exams. This system also pushes the Kalyana Karnataka region back. Moreover, this decision will encourage a coaching-oriented system, which is illegal, but prevails in the state. Since coaching centres are concentrating only on second-year exams, the govt is probably supporting them,” he commented.When contacted, Bharath S, director of department of school education (PU), Bengaluru, was unavailable for comment. His assistants said he was travelling for some inspection work and could not be connected.
