Students cry English bias

Nearly 100 students of Shibnath Shastri College who failed their BA Part-III (general) examinations this year have alleged that they were penalised for writing the political science paper in English.

In their complaint to Calcutta University (CU), which conducts the exams, the students alleged that 96 out of the 105 unsuccessful students had written the political science exam in English. The results were declared in August-end.

“We were shocked to find that a majority of the students who have failed in political science had written in English. We wonder how so many students from our college who wrote the test in Bengali managed to score the pass marks. The university should conduct an inquiry and reveal the truth,” said an aggrieved student of the state-aided college in Golpark run by the Brahmo Samaj Society.

Some of the examinees who wrote the paper in English have scored zero while others have scored less than 10, the students said. “It is strange that except a handful, all those who wrote the test in Bengali have passed,” said another student.

“I had scored well above the qualifying marks in Part-I and Part-II. I suspect that our answer scripts were not examined properly. There is also the possibility that the examiners awarded us low marks for writing in English,” she said.

Debashis Biswas, the controller of examinations at CU, admitted that some students of Shibnath Shastri College had lodged a complaint demanding a review. “ We have started an inquiry into the allegation,” said Biswas. He added that a report had been sought from the head examiners in this regard.

The students, however, alleged that the university had not responded to their complaint. According to them, since most of them had failed only one paper (political science), they could be declared “successful” in the overall exam if the inquiry established that they deserved qualifying marks in the subject.

“We are running from pillar to post to expedite the process of inquiry so that we can seek admission to a post-graduate course this session and avoid losing a year. But nothing has been done so far,” a student rued.


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