Students fret as Bangalore University decides to issue tearable marks cards

Bangalore University's decision to issue tearable marks cards for certain undergraduate courses has not gone down well with students who are worried that the authenticity of the documents may come under question during their job hunt.

The university says it will issue tearable marks cards for third- and fourth-semester exams taken by students of the 2018-19 batch. The exams were held in late 2019 and mid-2020. The students are currently in the sixth semester whose exams are scheduled for October.

Sources in the know said the decision on issuing tearable marks cards was taken due to a delay in approving the tender for the non-tearable variant. The university authorities were reportedly unhappy with the quotation given by the lowest bidder for supplying non-tearable marks cards. But instead of calling fresh bids, they decided to issue tearable marks.

A source in the university's examinations section said that around 2.50 lakh tearable marks cards had already been procured. "The release of marks cards was already delayed and we would be answerable to students if it's delayed further. So we have procured tearable marks cards for third- and fourth-semester exams (taken by the 2018-19 batch)," the source said.

Vice-Chancellor Prof K R Venugopal said the decision was "a stopgap arrangement" because of the high quotations given by the bidders.

According to him, three companies, including the government-run Mysore Sales International Limited (MSIL), which supplied the non-tearable marks cards in the past, took part in the tender.

MSIL offered to supply 10 lakh marks cards for Rs 43 apiece, as against Rs 41 it had quoted for providing one lakh marks cards. Another company quoted Rs 28. The third bidder was rejected on technical grounds. MSIL had previously quoted.

Venugopal said that since the gap between two bidders was large, it was decided to call the tender afresh so that everyone can participate. "As this process would take time, we decided to issue provisional marks cards that cost not more than Rs 2-3 apiece," he told DH. "I even offered to pay for these temporary marks cards from my own pocket."

University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines stipulate uniformity in the type of marks cards. So BU authorities decided to issue only non-tearable marks cards, and collected Rs 160 from each student to provide the same. A tearable marks card costs not more than Rs 2.

Students of the said batch fear that the tearable marks would become a problem when they apply for jobs because they were issued non-tearable marks for first and second semesters. If the university changes the specification of marks cards for other semesters, the authenticity of the marks cards will be questioned, they point out.

"Who will believe us if we have two types of marks cards for the same course from the same university?" a student asked.

Members of the syndicate, the university's highest decision-making body, also raised concerns over the matter. One of them, Uday Kumar, said: "The tender for non-tearable marks cards was called long ago and the examination section forwarded the file with details of the lowest bidder, but the vice-chancellor is not processing it, which is causing all this confusion."

Another member, Dr Sudhakar, said: "The previous syndicate meeting had decided to issue only non-tearable marks cards as per the UGC guidelines, but the vice-chancellor is playing with the future of students by issuing tearable marks cards."