Telangana

Telangana Inter fiasco: Activists demand action as re-verification passes 1,137 students

"We demand that the officials involved in the paper correction of these 1,137 students be suspended,” the Balala Hakkula Sangham said.

Written by : Gautam Bharadwaj

As over 1,000 students passed after re-verification of Telangana Intermediate exam results, the state government equivalent of Class 11 and Class 12, activists demanded strict action against officials of the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE), responsible for the fiasco. 

The TSBIE on Monday night announced the results of the re-evaluation of answer scripts of over 3.82 lakh students who had failed to obtain the passing marks in their examinations held earlier this year. This included 23 students who had killed themselves last month. Authorities found no change in the result status of the students, who ended their lives but 1,137 students cleared the exams as their marks were revised following re-verification of their answer scripts.

Stating that there was a gross lack of accuracy in the correction of  exam papers, Achyuta Rao, President of Balala Hakkula Sangham, a child rights organisation told TNM, “They have caused a lot of inconvenience for the students and their families. We demand that the officials involved in the paper correction of these 1,137 students be suspended.”

Out of the 1,137 students who passed in the re-evaluation, 552 were of first year Intermediate students and 585 were from second year. The results were released on Monday with digital copies of the answer sheets available for download.

Over 9.43 lakh students appeared for the exam this year out of which around 5.6 lakh students passed and 3.8 lakh failed. After the announcement of results, many errors by the authorities in valuation of answer scripts and processing the results came to light, triggering a public outcry. A spate of suicides by students over failure in exams kicked up a storm with opposition parties and student bodies taking to the streets demanding justice for the students.

Globarena Technologies, a company hired by the BIE for processing the results, was also blamed. “We want to know the government’s justification for enlisting Globarena for the correction. They should be blacklisted for the problems they have caused,” said Achyutha Rao. He also demanded a compensation of Rs 50 lakh for the families of the students who killed themselves.

A three-member committee formed by the government faulted both the BIE and Globarena Technologies for the fiasco.

However, the Intermediate Board has denied any connection between the deaths of the students and the fiasco. The board said that it re-evaluated the marks of students who took their own lives, but found no major discrepancies.

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