TU students irate over cancellation of exam

Tribhuvan University students sitting for postgraduate (Master's level) examination Thursday were taken in for a surprise when they were told by the exam superintendent that the question paper for their subject paper hasn't arrived and that in all likelihood the exam has been cancelled.

Altogether 40 final-year students of postgraduate level programme in journalism had reached the exam center at Pashupati Multiple Campus in Kathmandu Thursday at 11 am as they were supposed take their paper on 'Electronic Media', but when they finally sat for exams and had written down their names on the answer paper they were told, to their utter dismay, that the question paper for the subject hadn't arrived from Tribhuvan University.

"We had doubts whether the exam for the subject would be held at all because it was not mentioned in the exam schedule published by TU," Prithivi Shrestha, an M.A 2nd year student from R.R College, told Nepalnews, "but still we were told by our department chief that TU has been notified about it and that we should be assured about the exam taking place. But now we are feeling cheated."

The paper on 'Electronic Media' was introduced to the 5th batch students of journalism from this year only. Shrestha, who is himself a journalist, said that when the students contacted T.U demanding to know why the question papers weren't sent, the officials there told them that the question for the subject hadn't been prepared yet and that they would decide about reexamination after holding a meeting soon.

"How can they say that? They (T.U officials) are playing with the future of the students and we demand action against those responsible for this," he said angrily.

Tika Pradhan, another examinee, said, "This is an entirely irresponsible act. Students have come from the districts to attend exams. How can they just say that questions have not been prepared and that the exams have been cancelled? The department should be held responsible for it. "

He said that all students are very angry at both the Department of Journalism and TU officials for causing them mental distress and that they are calling for closing down the department.

"The exams had previously been cancelled because of the political uncertainty in the country and now this has happened. It is almost about to take us three years to finish the two year's programme because of this. How much time would it take to complete our course?" he asked.

However, Badri Poudel, chief of Journalism Department, said that his department was not to be blamed for this incident and put the entire blame on TU Controller of Examination in Balkhu.

"I just found that the exam has been cancelled and I am sorry for it. But my department is not responsible for it as exam controller is supposed to prepare question papers and make sure that it reaches the exam hall on time," an irate Poudel said, adding that he had notified the controller of examination about the subject not being mentioned in the exam schedule through a letter, and had been assured that the matter would be taken up.

Despite repeatedly trying to contact Tribhuvan University's Controller of Examination, no one was available for comments on the matter.

The oldest and by far the largest university in the country, Tribhuvan University is often criticised for its slow functioning, and the way it conducts examinations. Despite having a huge number of teaching faculty and staffs, students studying in the university often have to wait for over 6 to 8 months to get the results of examinations --owing to which they often lose a year after finishing a particular course. nepalnews.com ag Mar 13 08