Exam results are generally not what most students look forward to. So when Delhi University decides to go ahead and make the experience even more harrowing, you can’t really blame them for being disgruntled.
Most of them would agree without question that the revaluation system is a major pain. Under the system, if there’s a difference of 5% between the original and the revaluated marks, no change would be made. In case the difference in between 5-10%, average of the two marks would be awarded. And if it is more than 10%, the paper would be reexamined and the average of the two highest marks amongst them would be awarded.
Something that appears to be troubling most students is the methodology of awarding marks within this system itself. The question that’s on their minds, put simply, would read something like this- why am I being awarded averaged marks instead of what I actually secured? “Why am I being penalized for the examiner’s mistake and why am I being charged for it? This is rubbish”, says Rudrakshica, a 3rd year economics student.
The whole system, however, now seems like a money making gimmick. Not only has the revaluation fee sky rocketed from Rs. 250 per paper a few years ago to Rs. 1000 per paper in the present day, it also seems as if the papers have been deliberately marked less to possibly increase revenue from this source. Take for instance, the curious case of notoriously low marks in one of the Economics 2nd year papers- Indian Economic Development (IED). It is true that students were given grace marks in Microeconomics on account of the horrifying paper but that in no way justifies the enormous scaling down that has happened in IED. This has led to most of the students applying for revaluation in this paper. Taking into account the number of students currently pursuing this course in DU, the revenue that they would have generated from this is something that boggles the mind.
There is no questioning the fact that such a steep increase in revaluation fee is to deter those who give in their papers just for the sake of it. However, what they seem to forgetting is the fact that those who are genuinely facing a problem are also students and Rs. 1000 per paper might not be something that they could afford. Time to become a little more student friendly, DU?
Surya Rajappan
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