Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, JUL 25 (NPN): Dimapur Naga Students’ Union (DNSU) on Saturday expressed serious concern over “recurring irregularities” in the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUGP) semester examination results declared by Nagaland University (NU), alleging that errors in evaluation and tabulation have jeopardised the academic future of hundreds of students.
Addressing a press conference at DNSU office, union’s education secretary Kevin Gonmei said the union had received complaints from students from various colleges alleging discrepancies in evaluation, tabulation and marking. He said many students believed the marks awarded did not reflect their actual performance. Gonmei said similar complaints surfaced repeatedly since introduction of FYUGP in 2023, indicating what he described as recurring flaws in the university’s examination and evaluation process. Referring to a representation submitted to the controller of examinations on July 22, he said DNSU had urged NU to review the evaluation and tabulation process, permit special consideration for re-evaluation of students scoring below the existing eligibility criterion, ensure timely completion of the re-evaluation process and refund re-evaluation fees to eligible students in accordance with university rules.
He criticised the existing rule allowing only students securing a minimum of 20% marks in the external examination to apply for re-evaluation. Since external examination carries 75 marks, students scoring below 15 marks are automatically barred from seeking re-evaluation.
Gonmei said many students had received single-digit marks despite performing consistently well throughout the semester. He cited the case of a sixth-semester student who scored 21 out of 25 in the internal assessment but received a single-digit score in the external examination.
After contacting the student’s college principal, he said he was informed that the student had maintained good academic performance and was unlikely to have performed so poorly.
He alleged that existing rule deprived such students of the opportunity to challenge possible evaluation errors. Expressing concern over the impact on final-year students, Gonmei said a backlog in even one paper would delay graduation by an entire academic year.
He also alleged that students entitled to refunds under the university’s re-evaluation rules had not received them. Citing Rule 3 of re-evaluation guidelines, he said students whose marks increase by 20% or more after re-evaluation are entitled to a refund of the fee, but claimed the provision had not been implemented in several cases.
Gonmei further questioned the variation in re-evaluation fees collected by colleges. While NU had prescribed Rs.300 per paper, he alleged that some colleges charged between Rs.450 and Rs.900. Although some institutions reportedly reduced the charges following intervention by DNSU and ANCSU, he urged all colleges to adhere to the prescribed fee structure.
He said the deadline for submitting re-evaluation applications was approaching, but despite repeated representations, the university had not issued any clarification, leaving colleges unable to act. Maintaining that students’ futures were at stake, Gonmei urged the NU to address the grievances without delay. He warned that if the authorities remained unresponsive, DNSU would consider peaceful democratic protests.
Several affected students also addressed the media, alleging that evaluation discrepancies had persisted since FYUGP was introduced in 2023. One student claimed that during the second semester, many Political Science students who initially failed a core paper later passed after re-evaluation, with some even securing A and A+ grades.
Another student said many final-semester candidates who had consistently maintained good academic records had received below 20% marks in the external examination despite scoring over 80% in internal assessments. She alleged that such students were barred from re-evaluation and instead had to seek copies of answer scripts through RTI.
Students also alleged that some candidates’ names were missing from the published results, while others received single-digit marks in papers they believed they had answered well, suggesting possible technical or tabulation errors.
Responding to media queries, the students estimated that over 1,000 students across Nagaland had been affected by the recent examination results.
Appealing for immediate intervention, the students urged NU to review the disputed results, ensure transparency and accountability in the evaluation process, and allow deserving students to seek re-evaluation irrespective of the existing 20% eligibility criterion.