KCET: expert committee remains non-committal

City Education

ABVP presented a resolution to the principal secretary with suggestions like conducting a re-examination, granting grace marks and deleting out of syllabus questions.

The expert committee constituted by the state government to examine the complaints of out-of-syllabus questions in the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET) 2024, remains non-committal, despite Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s (ABVP) meeting with Srikar, M. S., I. A. S, Principal Secretary of Higher Education, Government of Karnataka.  

Praveen H. K., State Secretary, ABVP Karnataka said the principal secretary has given an assurance that the committee will take a decision which will give justice to the candidates who attended the KCET examination. He added that the secretary did not give any hints on what the decision would be.

The decision to present the resolution was made at a consultative meeting by ABVP with college management boards, academicians and teachers, held today at Karnataka State Souharda Samyukta Sahakari office, Malleshwaram.

Vishwanath Sheshachala, Joint Secretary, Karnataka Unaided PU College Management Association, said that the organization has no trust in the expert committee. “We don’t know who the members of the committee are. How can we trust them?” he asked.  

Representatives say that they do not trust the expert committee.

He added, “Students prepared for the exam according to the syllabus prescribed in the KEA website. But questions came from the deleted syllabus which no one prepared for.” He said that the uncertainty and confusion regarding the KCET exam is mentally affecting the students, especially those who are preparing for other competitive exams like National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). He also condemned KEA saying that it did not respond to the suggestions of various organizations.

Dr. Sudhakar Shetty, Vice President, Karnataka Un-aided PU College Management Association, said that the best solution would be to delete the questions and grade the candidates based on the remaining questions.

B.N. Yoganand, State President, Karnataka Private School Colleges’ Parent Associations’ Co-Ordination Committee, said, “The Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) is playing with the lives of three lakhs candidates who appeared for the exam. The state higher education department should intervene to address the concerns of these students and their parents.”

The meeting was attended online and offline by representatives of educational institutions associations, student associations, parents associations and academicians.

KCET exam is a state-level entrance exam conducted by the KEA to provide eligible candidates admission to various undergraduate courses in Karnataka. KCET exam 2024 held on April 18 and 19, reportedly had over 50 questions out of syllabus. ABVP had earlier demanded re-examination of KCET.

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