Tapan Pal,
Batanagar

Higher education is not meant for everyone. You need to put the check somewhere. In the Sixties, it was the primary level britti examination that did the job. Then came present-day students asking for 100 per cent success rate at school-leaving examinations, to ensure that barely-literates can saunter into the campuses. Our universities have more important work than churning out unemployable graduates lacking in hard and soft skills. It is a good sign. Calcutta University deserves kudos for doing this necessary but thankless job.

Dipanwita Roy,
Address not mentioned

I feel that the administrative system is responsible for this disastrous condition of the students. The results come out months after the examination and now we have to start the next year’s curriculum. This creates panic among us. The huge and unnecessary syllabus is also to be blamed for the drop in success rates. The 1+1+1 system was supposed to make the syllabus student-friendly, but it’s more of a burden!

Rahul Sadhu,
Address not mentioned

The whole system in CU is to be blamed for the dip in the results. My friends say that in CU “luck” matters, not “labour”. Is it possible that a student who gets 64 per cent in first year gets 44 per cent in the next? I got 50 per cent last year, now I have got less than 40. The same has happened to a friend. Even the teachers are shocked. All three of us are alphabetically one after another on the rolls. I believe the marks were given on an average basis. No one got a first class. The problem is not with the syllabus. It’s with the way the papers are corrected.

Oindrila Thakur,
Address not mentioned

The examiners are to be blamed for the dip in the success rate. It’s nothing new with Calcutta University. When the answer scripts are reviewed, a lot of tabulation errors come out.

Nikhat Saheba,
Address not mentioned

The delayed publication of results is one of the main reason for our poor performance. It leaves very little time to prepare for Part II exams, where scoring is comparatively more difficult than in Part I.

Sneha Dutta,
Address not mentioned

It is nothing new or shocking when it comes to the downward trend in Calcutta University’s results. Perhaps only the percentages of failures have increased over the years. For many days the University kept mum about the results, then it was said that the officials were working overtime to publish the results. It’s very clear what the work overtime has resulted in. A disaster of course! I had appeared for my Part II examinations in English honours from Presidency College and I am too stunned to react to what has been published as my result. The marking was possibly done on an average basis, and I doubt if the marks had been tabulated properly. The university uses the review system as a parallel means of earning.

Sudatta Mukherjee,
Address not mentioned

The CU system is so poor the success rate was meant to come down. Right from admission to declaration of results it is a corrupt system. First, the colleges give admission to more students than the university norms allow. Second, half the students don’t attend classes and very few colleges are strict about it. The attendance sheet is not followed. Then, the syllabus is huge. It needs to be changed or moderated. Fourth, the exam timings. Students get little time to prepare because the results are declared late. The biggest shock is the marking system. CU is the only university where marks are given so strictly. After the first year, the marks go on decreasing. Sixth, the teachers are paid very little for correcting the answer scripts. No wonder it takes away their motivation.

Sreyoshi Dey,
Address not mentioned

The problem with Calcutta University lies in its marking system. Teaching methods and subjects have nothing to do with the low pass percentage this year. The situation is self-inflicted. The results this year were to be declared in October but in October, CU authorities said they could not do so as they were working on it. The results were pushed back again because of the By-elections. In mid-November, the university admitted they were yet to finish work as marks were still coming in. But the very next week they are ready with the marks and the results are declared. How is it possible?

Sreyoshi Dey,
Address not mentioned

Everything, right from the syllabus to the publication of results and its timing, has affected the performance of CU students. The syllabus is huge (and old). The numerous holidays on the college calendar make it difficult for the syllabus to be completed. As the syllabus is not completed students are compelled to study selectively and rely on suggestions. The teachers are mostly busy with private tuitions even though the university discourages it. Students from ISC and CBSE streams have a tough time coping up with the CU pattern. Need I say more?

Maitree Saha,
Address not mentioned

I am a third year student of BSc. Our college’s Part II BSc results are not good. We didn’t get good marks because the answer scripts are not checked properly. We are facing problems completing our syllabus in the third year now.

Udayan Banerjee,
Mandeville Gardens

The delay followed by rush in declaration of results of BA and BSc Part-I and II by Calcutta University — after almost four months and apparently in a hurry over the last couple of days before publication on November 26 — has further brought down the success rate. The wide variations in the percentages of marks scored in different papers by students are alarming. A large number of honours students (many of them from reputed colleges in Calcutta) who have records of consistent performance have got disastrous marks. There must be some malaise in the system of examination. A probe should be ordered into correction and tabulation processes, rising above all political influences in the interest of deserving students. Otherwise, it would be a wonder if in the near future more good colleges start crying for autonomy to safeguard the interests of their students.

Dibbasree Mukherjee,
Address not mentioned

I’m at a loss to understand the remark on my result which says I have “Partly qualified”. In that case, I should be allowed to sit for Part III, but now I am being told that I have to clear economics Paper I and geography Paper IV practical of Part II. I’m confident of a much better result if the papers are scrutinised properly.