SPIPA admits to failure, to make changes in paper
To add six more students in the final list for essay test and interviews to make sure that candidates do not feel cheated; exam papers now will be set by four experts
SPIPA Director Arvind Agrawal accepted that the incident exposed loopholes in the system. “We are creating a policy to rectify this problem. We have decided that exam papers will be set by four or five experts. Either one of these papers will be chosen secretly for the examination or questions from each paper will be amalgamated to make a final test paper,” he said.
A record 4,579 students applied and 3,269 appeared for the SPIPA test held on July 17. Of these, 116 students had appeared for both SRIC as well as SPIPA tests. Six of these students figured in the final 180 who were shortlisted for an essay test and interview.
Following the controversy, SPIPA has decided to include six more students in the list. “We will now call 186 students. Probably, the six who were selected got here because of their hard work. But we do not want remaining candidates to feel cheated due to the goof-up. So, we will six more students a chance,” said Agrawal.
On how the blunder occurred, Agrawal said, “The expert, who set this paper, has been doing so for the past four or five years. We spoke to him over the phone and he apologised. We have blacklisted him but we cannot give you further details as the inquiry is still on.”
Joint Director J M Acharya said, “After a paper is set, our panel checks it to see if the questions are too hard or easy. When we checked this test paper, we felt that 33 questions were too tough or had errors, so these were changed. When we compared SRIC and our papers, we found that 47 questions were the same and 33 were different.”
Agrawal said, “Had we not changed the 33 questions, the papers would have been identical.”
No paper leak
He added, “We had given the paper to the government press in Vadodara on July 6. The papers were handed over in a sealed envelope so there is no question of a paper leak. The SRIC exam was held on July 9. We will ask them how they got the paper and who set it for them.”
Meanwhile, refuting all allegations, SRIC co-ordinator Ashok Parmar said, “The problem occurred at SPIPA. They will give you an answer. We will not reveal who sets our papers. It is a confidential matter.”
While SRIC’s was a 100-marks exam with each question carrying 0.25 marks, SPIPA’s was a 200-marks test with each question carrying 2.5 marks.
Asked if SPIPA will conduct a retest, Acharya said, “We are mulling over several options. The committee might cancel the exams. Or we might decide against counting the marks for this paper. It is not possible for us to say anything for sure right now.”
Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Wednesday, August 03, 2011 (http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/3/2011080320110803022501231aff3a2e8/SPIPA-admits-to-failure-to-make-changes-in-paper.html)
A day after Mirror reported how the exam paper for a SPIPA entrance test was similar to the entrance exam paper of Shri Rajput IAS Study Centre (SRISC) in Gandhinagar, the institute has decided to change the manner in which the papers are set. Authorities at Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration have initiated a probe into the matter.SPIPA Director Arvind Agrawal accepted that the incident exposed loopholes in the system. “We are creating a policy to rectify this problem. We have decided that exam papers will be set by four or five experts. Either one of these papers will be chosen secretly for the examination or questions from each paper will be amalgamated to make a final test paper,” he said.
A record 4,579 students applied and 3,269 appeared for the SPIPA test held on July 17. Of these, 116 students had appeared for both SRIC as well as SPIPA tests. Six of these students figured in the final 180 who were shortlisted for an essay test and interview.
Following the controversy, SPIPA has decided to include six more students in the list. “We will now call 186 students. Probably, the six who were selected got here because of their hard work. But we do not want remaining candidates to feel cheated due to the goof-up. So, we will six more students a chance,” said Agrawal.
On how the blunder occurred, Agrawal said, “The expert, who set this paper, has been doing so for the past four or five years. We spoke to him over the phone and he apologised. We have blacklisted him but we cannot give you further details as the inquiry is still on.”
Joint Director J M Acharya said, “After a paper is set, our panel checks it to see if the questions are too hard or easy. When we checked this test paper, we felt that 33 questions were too tough or had errors, so these were changed. When we compared SRIC and our papers, we found that 47 questions were the same and 33 were different.”
Agrawal said, “Had we not changed the 33 questions, the papers would have been identical.”
No paper leak
He added, “We had given the paper to the government press in Vadodara on July 6. The papers were handed over in a sealed envelope so there is no question of a paper leak. The SRIC exam was held on July 9. We will ask them how they got the paper and who set it for them.”
Meanwhile, refuting all allegations, SRIC co-ordinator Ashok Parmar said, “The problem occurred at SPIPA. They will give you an answer. We will not reveal who sets our papers. It is a confidential matter.”
While SRIC’s was a 100-marks exam with each question carrying 0.25 marks, SPIPA’s was a 200-marks test with each question carrying 2.5 marks.
Asked if SPIPA will conduct a retest, Acharya said, “We are mulling over several options. The committee might cancel the exams. Or we might decide against counting the marks for this paper. It is not possible for us to say anything for sure right now.”
