SALEM: Periyar University announced on Monday that it will conduct a re-examination of the "English Literature of Competitive Examinations", an elective paper for third-year students of affiliated colleges on Tuesday (May 27). The action follows the use of questions from out of syllabus in the initial examination held on May 10.
The announcement just on the eve of the re-exam is set to inconvenience examinees who are on vacation, with several likely to miss it.
Students currently on vacation are compelled to return to college and retake the exam with insufficient preparation time.
In a circular dated on Saturday, Controller (In-charge) P Viswanathamurthi said that the English Literature of Competitive Examinations paper was held on May 10.
"As requested by members of the Board of Studies for the undergraduate English department at a meeting held on May 23, a re-exam of the English Literature of Competitive Examinations paper will be conducted on Tuesday morning," he said.
Speaking to TNIE, an assistant professor at a government arts and science college in Salem explained the reason for the re-examination, stating that the previous exam had been conducted for 75 marks, with multiple-choice questions across parts A, B, and C.
"Many questions were out of the syllabus. Most students lamented that the questions were too tough and they said that they cannot clear the paper. As a result, many students demanded a re-exam and based on the faculty's request, the board of members took this issue to the head of the Periyar University,” he said.
Following this, the university announced re-exam.
Another assistant professor wondered how students would prepare for the exam and then travel to college to write the exam at short notice. He further stated several students will be absent for the re-exam."Since the university issued the exam notification on Monday, how can we communicate this to the students?" he told TNIE.
He urged the university to give adequate time to students before taking the exam. K Raja, General Secretary of the Association of University Teachers (AUT), said students suffer due to the mistakes of top officers at Periyar University.
"Consequently, the university may delay releasing the results. As a result, final-year students may struggle to join postgraduate courses. The university should release the results without delay," he said.
He urged the higher education department to form an inquiry committee and take stringent action against the officers responsible for the error. Repeated attempts to reach the officers from the Periyar University and a top officer from the higher education department went in vain.