Anyone can flick, tear, burn answer scripts kept at GU

Mirror finds out how easy it is for a visitor to stroll into the departments on GU campus where answersheets of lakhs of arts, commerce and science students have been kept

Yogesh Avasthi

Posted On Thursday, May 05, 2011 (http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/2011050520110505031437491c2e7ef72/Anyone-can-flick-tear-burn-answer-scripts-kept-at-GU.html)

Gujarat University may spend Rs 6 crore to conduct exams every year, but keeping students’ answersheets safe is definitely not its priority. On Wednesday, Mirror found out that the answersheets can be accessed by any Tom, Dick and Harry since there are no guards to stop visitors from entering the rooms where these have been stacked. At places where there are, the guards do not know what they are guarding and therefore let anyone in.

Every year nearly 3.5 lakh students appear for GU exams. Their answer papers are stored in different departments on GU campus. Even if a single answersheet goes missing, it could lead to a slew of administrative issues and cost the student his career.

On Wednesday, this reporter managed to walk into the rooms where BCom and BA answer scripts were stored, without being questioned by anyone. He even clicked the photographs without anyone raising an eyebrow. He says that if anybody intends to play mischief, he can take away the answer-paper bundles easily or even set them on fire. There’s little chance that the security guards or the staff in adjacent rooms will stop you.

‘YAHAN SAHAB LOG HI AATE HAIN’
The FYBCom answersheets are stored in the room on the first floor of the School of Psychology, Philosophy and Education department on GU campus. The guard outside the building, a nonchalant 18-year-old, did not bother to question the reporter as he entered the building on Tuesday evening.
The unlocked room, where both evaluated and unchecked answersheets were stacked, had six chairs and a table. The fan was running on full-speed, but there was no one in the room. The reporter spent nearly 10 minutes there, but nobody questioned him. While exiting the building, he asked the guard why was he letting in visitors without questioning them. To this, he replied: “Yahan toh sahab log hi aate hain (Only university officials come here).”

‘PAPER LEVA AAYA CHHO?’
Next, the reporter strolled into the Social Science department where answersheets of arts subjects were stored. Inside room number 5 though, there were three-four young contract workers hired by the university to label and arrange the answer papers. Assuming that the reporter was a professor who had probably come to collect a bundle for evaluation, one of the workers asked him, “Paper leva aaya chho? (Have you come to collect the answer papers?)”

NO LEARNING FOR GU

Even at other departments on GU premises, where answer scripts of different subjects have been stored, visitors can easily walk in unquestioned. The university does not seem to have learnt from its past mistakes. Last year, scores of answersheets of SYBCom students got soaked in water after officials at School of Languages forgot to turn off a tap in bathroom of the room where they were kept. The answersheets were so wet that the examiners had to spread them in the open for drying before evaluation.