Meme test: 'Nikhil Yellidiyappa' stumps BU evaluators

A political meme — Nikhil Yellidiyappa — that went viral during the Lok Sabha elections, has now made its way into the answer scripts of students at the university level. Much to the dismay of several Bangalore University professors evaluating answer scripts, students filled their answer sheets with slogans — Nikhil Yellidiyappa (Nikhil, Where are you?).

While evaluating the semester exam papers of various undergraduate courses at the BU, professors were shocked to see the slogan in the place of answers. While a few of the students scribbled the slogan towards the end of their sheet, a few others were found to have filled an entire sheet of the answer scripts with the slogan.

Rajneesh (name changed) one of the evaluators who received a script with the ‘Nikhil Yellidiyappa’ slogan said, “While it was common for students to write names of gods and religious symbols, this year, the students have made use of this popular slogan and filled in their answer scripts with it.”

Students have only earned the wrath of the university by resorting to such practices as the officials have considered such acts as examination malpractices. “According to the university examination ordinance, scribbling such literature in answer scripts amounts to malpractice and students will be barred from appearing for exams for three years,” an official attached to the evaluation wing of the BU told DH.

Prof C Shivaraju, Registrar (Evaluation) said, “PG students do not indulge in such acts and this is largely a practice by undergraduate students. Each semester, we get around 40 such scripts.”