For KSOU, courting controversy is a fine art

Fine Arts students get out of syllabus paper; re-exam soon

The Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) has bungled again. This time, inconveniencing as many as 32 Bachelor of Fine Arts students from across the country and the globe, who have come to Mysore to write their final year exams.

On Friday, the students who have taken up the course at the Sri Allammaprabhu Lalitha­kala Academy, Mysore, (KSOU’s collaborative institution) were issued out of syllabus paper (History of Visual Arts), forcing the institution to approach the varsity, asking it to hold a re-examination on Sunday.

But the varsity rejected the proposal citing technical problems, asking the students to write the exam again next year.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Sunil Kumar, a 52-year-old pharmaceutical professional from Vijayawada, said that when the students, including two senior citizens and an Iranian citizen, sat down to write the theory paper on painting on Friday morning, they were in for a shock.

None of the 10 questions (20 marks each) were part of the syllabus. When the college authorities were informed about the same, the students were asked to wait at the examination centre.

“The college informed us that the paper had been postponed to Sunday. However, we were later told that KSOU had informed the college that the exam could not be held on Sunday, and that we have to re-appear next year. We have submitted a memorandum to the varsity, requesting it to conduct the exam on Sunday,” he said.

K J Suresh, Registrar Evaluation, KSOU, said the Chairman of the Board of Examiners (BoE) had to be held responsible for the confusion, and that the varsity would conduct the re-examination only if the students submitted a written complaint to him.

“The University had constituted the committee of five examiners three months ago. It looks like there has been no coordination between the panelists and the Chairman. He is ultimately responsible for scrutinising the papers, before sending them to the varsity. The re-exam cannot be conducted on Sunday,” he said.

D A Upadhya, Dean of Allammaprabhu Lalithakala Academy, however, put the blame on the varsity.

“KSOU failed to constitute the BoE, in spite of me contacting them twice in the last two months. The varsity appointed me as the chairman of the committee, and asked me to scout for panelists. When I approached people, they turned down the offer.

I conveyed this message to the varsity, but to no avail. I scrutinised the papers myself and sent it across to KSOU. I only checked for grammar, spellings and marks,” he said. The students have now been informed that they will be given a date shortly to write the paper.

“We have to seek leave again, bear additional financial expenses and come back to write the paper,” said Sunil Kumar.