KCET likely to be held again over out-of-syllabus questions

The Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET) is likely to be held again after out-of-syllabus questions showed up in all the subjects in the exam held on April 18 and 19, causing consternation among students.

Expert committees constituted by the state government to examine the KCET question papers have endorsed the opinions of students, teachers and other stakeholders — that there were indeed out-of-syllabus questions.

Sources from the higher education department confirmed that expert committees on Thursday submitted their reports, which confirmed that there were out-of-syllabus questions in all the four subjects.

The reports also said that each subject had out-of-syllabus questions worth at least eight marks.

"As per pre-university norms, we were allowed to give a maximum of six grace marks in any subject as per the Karnataka Education Act 1983. Even in KCET, there are no instances of giving grace marks of more than eight marks," said one of the subject experts.

A subject expert who was in the committee said that "everything is in the public domain and that is true".

"There is no doubt about the out-of-syllabus questions that appeared in the question papers," said the expert. 

Sources said the government is contemplating on holding the exam again as other options could take the matter to courts.

"Providing grace marks will not give justice to meritorious students and it may even lead to legal battle. Considering that the department is thinking in all aspects and going for re-examination is the priority," said an official source.

Speaking on the options discussed, the source said some pitched for calculating the score only for the questions which were within the syllabus.

"But that may also allow students to approach the court and delay the entire process. As students are still preparing for NEET and other competitive exams, it would not be difficult for them to attempt KCET again," added the source.

The Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA), which conducts the KCET, had received nearly 4,000 objections this time. The deadline to file objections ended on Saturday.

Apparently, there were more than 51 out-of-syllabus questions across all four KCET subjects. Before the expert committees were constituted, Chief Secretary Rajneesh Goel consulted the director of the department of Pre-University Education and obtained a confidential report on deleted chapters and the communication that was made to KEA.