Blunders in Kerala universities' exams aggravates concerns over eroding standards

Experts are also stressing the urgent need for administrative reforms in Kerala universities, especially doing away with political interventions in appointments

Serious blunders in the conduct of examinations at two prominent universities in Kerala have further aggravated the concerns raised by Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan over the eroding quality of higher education in Kerala.

Experts in the field are also stressing the urgent need for administrative reforms in the universities, especially doing away with political interventions in appointments.

At the Kannur University, the previous year's question papers were replicated for three-degree examinations, whereas at the Kerala University answer keys were allegedly distributed to students instead of question papers for the examination.

While the Governor, who is also the chancellor of the universities, has sought a report from the universities on the incidents, the controller of examinations of Kannur University P J Vincent already offered to resign taking moral responsibility. Kannur University also decided to blacklist the teachers who prepared the two question papers for BSc Psychology and one for BA Philosophy. While the BSc Psychology examinations were already conducted, a goof-up in the BA Philosophy question paper was noticed before the examination was conducted.

The blunder in the conduct of BSc Electronics examination of Kerala University came to light during the valuation process only. The examination was held in February. Teachers involved in the valuation noticed that some students had written the answer keys as such.

Kerala recently witnessed a stand-off between the Governor and the left-front government with the former alleging political interventions in appointments in university. The reappointment of Kannur University vice-chancellor Gopinath Ravindran was among the specific instances pointed out by the Governor, who had even insisted on relieving himself from the chancellor post.

In view of the present goof-up, the Governor reiterated his earlier criticisms and expressed concerns that the quality of higher education in Kerala was eroding.

Former diplomat T P Sreenivasan, who had served as Kerala State Higher Education Council vice-chairman, told DH that universities in the state were in urgent need of administrative reforms. Political intervention in appointments and massive corruption were the major issues being faced by the universities. He also expressed hope that since the Governor was showing some interest in the matter there could be some positive outcome.

Meanwhile, sources close to the government said that in case the Governor toughens his stand, the left-front government may even consider the option of taking off the powers of the Governor over universities as being done by Tamil Nadu now.

Already a discussion in this regard got triggered in Kerala when the Governor came out with the allegations against the political interventions in universities. Kerala Government had even suggested to the centre in its response to the Justice Madan Punchhi commission that the state governments should be empowered to oust the governors.