Mumbai: Tech snag during paper correction triggers panic

On Monday May 22 technical glitches caused the checking of the ldquoLaw of Evidencerdquo paper for final year fiveyear BLSLLB students at Mumbai University to abruptly halt The Online Marking System OMS accepted only 60 marks instead of the full 100 marks for the paper This discrepancy arose because the 60 marks pattern was intended for final LLB Semester 6 students following the old syllabus while the 100mark pattern was meant for the final 10th semester of the fiveyear BLSLLB courseSimilar concerns emerged regarding the final year semester 6 Law and Medicine Paper which deviated from the previous question paper format Mumbai University has already faced criticism including from the chancellor for delayed winter examination resultsBLS lsquoLaw of EvidencersquoAccording to an anonymous faculty member from a law college there were discrepancies found in the lsquoLaw of Evidencersquo papers in Mumbai Universityrsquos Online Marking System OMS The faculty member stated ldquoThere were discrepancies with the number of questions answered as short brief and long answers written in the answer sheets that she had taken up for checkingrdquo They further explained that the subject code on the answer sheets and question paper did not match and there was a mismatch between the written answers and the questions It was later revealed that the answer sheets belonged to BLS LLB Semester 10Law of Evidence paper a 100mark paper while the OMS marking column was set for only 60 marks The faculty member emphasised the issuersquos significance stating ldquoEven if the faculty corrected all the answers the system would not accept marks beyond the set total mark of 60rdquoUpon bringing the matter to the notice of the university helpline the response was lackadaisical The faculty member stated ldquoThe response of the speaker who asked to continue checking the paper left the coordinator reluctant to proceed with the checking as students would likely lose marksrdquo As a result an official remark highlighting the issue was sent to the university and law college authoritiesAlso Read Pune Mass copying in Class 12 physics exam detected Nine teachers bookedLLB Year Semester 6In LLB Semester 6 the lsquoLaw and Medicinersquo question paper deviated from the usual pattern Instead of starting with brief answers and ending with longform answers it was the other way around Law faculties are concerned that the OMS system wonrsquot reverse the marking scheme potentially causing students to lose marks This issue was raised by a faculty member from a law college in the western suburbsThe faculty member said ldquoWe will raise the concern with the university to rectify the OMS system so that students do not lose marks Fortunately so far the Law and Medicine answer sheets have not been sent for checking through the OMS and hopefully the university will rectify the error promptlyrdquoA faculty member from a law college reported that they informed a relevant authority about the incorrect paper pattern during the Law and Medicine examination However they received a rude response suggesting a lack of understanding of the universityrsquos question paper patternDr U K Nambiar Principal of MCT Law College Airoli who is also one of the cluster heads for law colleges in Navi Mumbai said ldquoIt is unfortunate that the technical backend team of Mumbai University ignored the mandatory checking norms before uploading the exam answer sheets for evaluation This also indicates a lack of supervisory authority to monitor the work of the backend teamrdquoNambiar suggests that law colleges offer proactive support by rotating their faculties to supervise the universityrsquos work during examsWay outldquoThe advantage of having law college faculty members involved is that they can immediately resolve such technical glitches by coordinating with the technical and backend teams concerned resolving the issues promptly Moreover the university will be able to release the exam results on timerdquo Nambiar explainedDr Ajay Patil Principal of DY Patil Law College said ldquoThe need is to work together and assist in the smooth conduct of university examinations to prevent students from facing any lossesrdquoStudent Union reactsSiddharth Ingle president of the Maharashtra Students Union said Mumbai University has not learned from previous mistakes and lacks the willingness to changeThe other sideDr AK Singh Associated Dean of Law at the university said ldquoWe will look into the matter and resolve it soonrdquo