VTU conducts Mathematics Re-exam on 23 Jan

The Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belgaum officials confirmed that, the Engineering first semester Mathematics re-exam will be conducted on Jan 23, which was rumoured that the paper has been leaked half an hour before the exam on Tuesday.

Vice Chancellor, VTU, H Maheshappa told to media that the questions papers were uploaded on secure servers at about 1.15 PM. Colleges have to download and print them and it takes about 30 minutes for the process. As exam were at 2 PM, anything has to happen between the fifteen minutes and it could be mischief of some of the colleges staff hand in glove with a section of students.

As the re-exam will be conducted on Jan 23, the exams which were to conclude on Thursday has now been delayed by a week, abruptly cutting short the ten-day semester holidays.

Meanwhile, VTU has sent out teams to Davangere and Tumkur, where the leak is said to have taken place. Varsity officials are suspecting the involvement of the colleges staff in the leak. Even, the paper leak rumours hit the ongoing VTU exam on Wednesday. Around 69,000 students will now have to take a re-exam on Jan 23.

The H Maheshappa said all the affiliated colleges will be under the scanner of the University's committees as the leak could have happened anywhere. "It is possible that a college staff could have accessed the paper after the printout was taken and either mailed it or taken a printout," he said.

In the present system, the login ID and password to download the question papers to three officers, the Chief Superintendent, usually the principal of the college, Deputy Chief (External) nominated by VTU from other colleges and Deputy Chief (Internal) who normally is the examination management system (EMS) coordinator of the colleges.

A separate login ID and Password is provided to the computer operator to manage the software and maintain the computer system. The computer operator collects the colour coded secret keys from the officers fro access to the questions paper server and selects the course and subject for printing. Critics of the QPDS have pointed out that there is scope for misuse of the system at different levels, including copying the paper onto pen drives or emails as it is available in PDF form on the computer after printing.