Congress demands judicial probe into inter exams goof up

Hyderabad/New Delhi: The Congress party on Monday demanded judicial probe through a sitting judge of High Court into the irregularities committed by the officials of Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) and Globarena Technologies in the intermediate results.

Addressing a press conference at All India Congress Committee (AICC) Headquarters in New Delhi, AICC Spokesperson Dr. Sravan Dasoju said that the blunders committed by the TSBIE in exam results have caused serious agony to thousands and students and their parents. Therefore, he said that the State Government should immediately suspend the TSBIE officials including its Secretary Dr. Ashok and others for their callous and allegedly corrupt practices. Calling Education Minister Jagadish Reddy 'Munnabhai MBBS', he asked Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao to sack him from the cabinet.

Sravan blamed the incompetency and also the corrupt and callous administration of TSBIE authorities which led to most unwanted manipulations in the intermediate results which subjected thousands of meritorious students to gross injustice and immense mental agony as their career got jeopardised. "Not only the students, but their parents and entire family members are in deep distress. Nearly 25 students are reported to have committed suicides due to the faulty results published by the TSBIE. Now who should be held responsible for those deaths?" he asked while demanding that needy families be paid an ex-gratia of Rs. 25 lakh each.

The Congress leader strongly condemned the attitude of TSBIE authorities who refused to address the grievances of thousands of parents and students and instead advised them to apply for recounting or revaluation by paying per subject Rs 100 and Rs 600 respectively. He described it as an attempt to cover up their mismanagement and corrupt manipulation and demanded that the State Government instruct TSBIE to take up recounting and re-evaluation at free of cost.

Sravan said it was only after thousands of students and parents created uproar against the injustice that the concerned minister woke up from slumber. Instead of resigning from his post owing moral responsibility, he announced constitution of a committee to hush up the issue. He demanded that the Chief Minister dismiss Jagadish Reddy from his cabinet immediately. However, he said that the present government was more interested in promoting defection politics than delivering good governance.

The AICC Spokesperson alleged that the irregularities were not incidental, but a result of gross violation of multiple norms and other manipulations. He said tender for processing of data and results was awarded to the Globarena Technologies Private Limited although it did not qualify for it as per the conditions laid down by the TSBIE. This led to several glitches including extension of fee date thrice.

"We have serious suspicion on the way the Globarena Technologies is allowed to flout all the tender norms by TSBIE Secretary Dr A Ashok. All these need to be thoroughly enquired and culprits should be seriously punished," he said.

Further, Sravan alleged that many answer scripts were misplaced and so far, no action has been taken in this regard. He also alleged that many question papers were leaked. Sometimes even all three Sets (A, B & C) were leaked and widely circulated in social media. No one complained, as those papers were initially perceived to be fake. But later, it was reported that the question papers were in fact leaked, he said.

"Intermediate exams were held from February 28 to March 18, 2019. But results were declared only after 30 days i.e., on April 18 even though the answer sheets were evaluated in just 10 days as against the general practice of completing the same in 20 days. Only TSBIE knows why examiners were burdened with 60 papers per day as against the standard of giving 30 papers per day. Earlier, results used to be declared in maximum 2-3 weeks of time," he said adding that no efforts were made to clarify on dates for declaration of results until situation turned worse and this delay created chaos among students and parents.

The Congress leader also pointed out the TSBIE committed huge mistakes in the correction of papers. Attendees were shown as absentees and merit students who got 90% percent above were shown as failed in one or two subjects. "For many students, the marksheets said they didn't appear for exam, but passed. Similarly, many students received marksheets with wrong combination of subjects. In one of the cases, an MPC student has economics and commerce printed on the marksheet. Likewise, there are thousands of cases across Telangana," he said.

Sravan said that the grading system was introduced for the Intermediate Public Examinations (IPE) from 2017-18. The decision was prompted by the practice of corporate and private junior colleges putting pressure on students to perform, thereby driving several students to suicide. However, the present results given by TSBIE show both marks secured by students in each subject disregarding their own rule of grading system. This is allowing Private colleges to use these numbers to announce Top Rankers and thus increasing the pressure on students, he said.

The AICC Spokesperson said that the intermediate marks would have 25% weightage in determining EAMCET ranks and as such intermediate is the most crucial turning point of one's career. Therefore, he sought an assurance directly from the Chief Minister that the justice would be done to the students and their career would be protected.

Sravan also demanded that the State Government immediately set up Help Centers in every District Collectorate and RDO offices so that students and parents could report their issues rather than all of them coming to TSBIE office in Hyderabad. He said necessary infrastructure should be provided at the TSBIE evaluation centres and it should be ensured that proper standards are followed in terms of number of papers given per day to the examiners.