Swear words for names appear in students’ forms

Panic-stricken students immediately raised the issue with the college administration verbally, but as it remained unresolved, hall tickets could not be generated, leading to all of them missing the first exam of the fifth semester on Monday

MUMBAI: A few third year students of Information Technology (IT) from Government Polytechnic, Bandra, were unable to take the first exam of the fifth semester on Monday, as hall tickets were not issued. They could not be generated as expletives were printed in spaces allocated for their names in the pre-filled data of their exam forms. As soon as they discovered this last week, the panic-stricken students raised the issue with the college administration verbally, but it remained unresolved.

Swear words for names appear in students’ forms

The pre-filled data, which includes a student’s enrolment number and identity details, leads to a college issuing hall tickets for exams.

One of the affected students, who did not wish to be named, said, “Nothing changed despite our complaints last week. We were told the problem would be solved by Monday, but when we reached for the exam hall, the issue persisted. None of us were not allowed to appear for the exams because our details in the system were wrong.”

A couple of students also told HT that following several complaints last week, the college shut down its MIS system, saying it needed time to fix the error. By late Monday evening, they said the system was still not working and that there was no clarity about when the problem would be resolved.

Several calls made by HT to the institute’s principal, Nitiket Mhala, to understand how such an incident could have occurred, remained unanswered.

Meanwhile, Pramod Naik, joint director of the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), has issued a letter to Mhala, seeking an explanation by Tuesday afternoon. Naik told HT, as the college is autonomous, it conducts its exams and issues hall tickets through its own system. He clarified that the process is not linked to the Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education.