Kochi: Alleging irregularities in the evaluation process, a bunch of students pursuing Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) course in several institutes affiliated to Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS), have moved to Kerala High Court seeking transparency in the system.
More than 50 students sought in their petition direction upon the University and the Controller of Examinations of KUHS to upload answer books and score sheets of all examinations on the website of the University for the students to view and download, ensuring proper security and privacy. The students have further requested the HC to direct the concerned authorities to publish answer keys issued for all the University Exams.
This comes after several of the students failed in certain subjects in the University exam and faced obstacles for obtaining a photocopy of the answer book and the score sheet. Thus the students sought for legal help submitting that the students' right under Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty) under the Constitution of India was being violated in the process.
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As per the latest media report by the Bar and Bench, when the petitioners had failed and were made to sit for supplementary examinations, they tried to gain information about these failures from Ayurveda medical colleges across Kerala, which revealed about the mass failure in Kerala for the said examinations.
When the students tried to obtain a photocopy of the answer book and score sheet online, they realized the application could be submitted only through the principal of the college concerned.
They also found out that the fee for such a request can be paid only online through the principal or head of the institution in a single transaction for all the candidates who had applied. The process didn't allow individual remittance of fees by individual candidates.
Following this, they sought legal help and filed a petition through advocates Raghul Sudheesh, Lakshmi J, Glaxon KJ, and Amal Jees Alex alleging several irregularities in the valuation for the examinations, which resulted in mass failure.
The counsels for the petitioner students also highlighted in the petition the fee required in the process. They submitted that the fee for obtaining a photocopy of the answer book, and scoresheet is Rs. 555 each per paper. This makes the total cost for obtaining the photocopy and scoresheet of a single paper a total of Rs 1,110. Due to the fact that certain subjects had two parts, those subjects would cost the students around Rs 2,220 for gaining knowledge about their paper.
Further submitting that spending such a high amount of money and sending the applications via the principal of the institutes were working as a barrier for the students the counsel for the students added how this was resulting in the violation of the Students' right guaranteed Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
Claiming that a revaluation could change the scenario altogether and many of the students would pass, the students requested the HC to ensure more transparency in the examination system, and direct the University authorities to upload the answer books, scoresheet, and answer keys on the official website.
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