E-Paper
‘Mumbai University earned Rs2.37 cr from re-evaluation fee last year’
A previous RTI query had revealed that in the first half of 2018-19 academic year, 49,516 had applied for re-evaluation of over 85,000 answer booklets.
The University of Mumbai (MU) earned around Rs 2.37 crore and Rs 6.77 lakh through re-evaluation and photocopy application fees respectively between April 2018 and October 2018, revealed a Right to Information (RTI) Act query. A previous RTI query had also revealed that in the first half of 2018-19 academic year, 49,516 had applied for re-evaluation of over 85,000 answer booklets.
“This shows that students don’t trust the assessment process,” said Vihar Durve, an RTI activist. He added that in 2016, when the assessment chaos led to lakhs of students waiting for their mark sheets for almost six months, MU had received over 50,000 re-evaluation applications.
Previous RTI applications filed by Durve have shown that between April 2013 and March 2014, MU made Rs 2.67 crore and Rs 15.63 lakh through fees for re-evaluation and photocopy applications of answer booklets, respectively. From April 2014 to March 2016, MU got Rs 4.8 crore and Rs 25.3 lakh in re-evaluation and photocopy fees respectively.
MU officials, however, maintain that the number of applications every semester has decreased since 2016. “MU’s finance department has responded to these RTIs. Applications received in May 2018 are for exams held between March 2018 and May 2018. So one cannot say that the number of re-evaluation applications is high in the 2018-19 academic year,” said Vinod Patil, director, Board of Examination and Evaluation, MU. “Information shared by MU shows that at least one in every three students who applies for re-evaluation passes the exam after the process. Many are wrongly failed and depend on the re-evaluation to get clarity,” said Durve.
