Kathmandu, September 7:

The rector of the Tribhuvan University, Mahendra Singh, today said the university’s academic management was trying to create a mechanism so that the examiners would have to adopt professionalism while checking answer sheets of the students. Speaking at an interaction, Singh acknowledged that the TU has many things to do to improve its examination system.

Defending allegations made by academicians as well as journalists that TU lacks professionalism and there were uncountable faults in the examination and marking system, Singh questioned how could same system be bad for government-owned colleges and good for private colleges?

“However, we are working to change the modality of question papers so that merit students will get more marks and the examiners will have less chance to manipulate with the answer sheets of the students while checking them,” he said. He said the TU was also working to publish the results within 90 days of the examination date.

Curriculum and evaluation expert Dr Tirtharaj Parajuli said there was no coordination between curriculum and examination. “TU has no outlined purposes of curriculum and courses of study and it lacks a clear evaluation approach,” he said. Prof Chiranjibi Sharma alleged that TU teachers are not dedicated to the university and spare enough labour and dedication for private colleges. “The overall examination system of the university should be revamped,” he argued.

Educationist Dr Tirtha Khaniya said the lack of professionalism was the major thing that has been appearing in different forms of dissatisfaction on the part of students and academicians over the results of the TU. “We don’t have a single mechanism to train examiners so that they can do their job professionally,” he said.

“Given or secured marks on any subject should be convincing for examinees and it should be transparent,” he argued. He pointed out the liberal entry of students into TU and TU-affiliated colleges as one of the reasons behind low pass percentage and low quality of the products of such colleges. “If the marking system is not convincing and transparent, the certificate would have no credibility,” he added.