No grace marks for now for 'tough' PU Maths paper

Numerous students who wrote the PU II Mathematics examination on March 14 are pleading for leniency in evaluation. But the Department of Pre-University Education (DPUE) is not willing to commit before doing a detailed study of what ailed the students. Department of Pre-University Education (DPUE) director Pallavi Akurathi told Deccan Herald that any decision without a study would amount to "injustice” to students who have done well. A section of students complained about the question paper being "lengthy” and "difficult”. An online petition seeking leniency has received 12,000 hits in support. Following the outcry, the PU department is seeking the help of subject experts from across the state to study the paper and give their opinion. One such expert asked to go through the paper said, showing leniency would be unfair as there are no errors in the paper. "There are no mistakes in the paper, nor any out of the syllabus questions. A few questions that some students found difficult are context and concept based, for which direct reference cannot be found in the textbook. We have already gone through the paper once and will do so again,” added the expert. He, moreover, contended that it would be incorrect to encourage leniency in evaluation as it would set a bad precedent. "As it is our syllabus is slightly lower in standard in comparison to that of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Last year, there were mistakes in the question paper and, hence, grace marks were given,” he added. Akurathi said that an analysis was being done by experts from various divisions, who have different opinions. "Many students have sent us mails saying that for those who have done sincere study would lose out if leniency is shown. Parents have also told us that all questions are from NCERT textbooks,” she said. Azar Ahmed, a student of MVJ PU College said: "The paper was not difficult. I thought the paper was good; if a student knows the concepts well he/she will be able to answer all questions. A few of the one mark questions were lengthy but clear. There was no confusion.” Azar is confident of scoring 100 marks. Smrithi, another student who is expecting a centum said: "Leniency will not affect the mediocre performers as the board in any case sees that maximum numbers pass through grace marks. It is people who expect high scores who will be the losers if leniency is shown,” she said. Deccan Herald