Burdwan, July 8: Around 13,000 postgraduate distance-education students at Burdwan University had to wait for a year to get their Part I results because the university could not install a new software.

When the results were ultimately announced on July 2 and 3, the students found out that it was only for some subjects that the marksheets were out.

The university has said by July 9, the results for all the subjects would be declared.

But why students had to wait a year because of delayed installation of a software is still a question.

University sources said the software could not be introduced because the university executive council (EC) did not meet for a year.

The students, who took their MA and MCom Part I exams, started preparing for Part II despite the uncertainty.

The students have to pay annual fees of Rs 4,000 for their courses.

“We took admission to the Part II course in August last year and also started preparation for the exam. We don’t know when the university will conduct the Part II exam this year though usually it is held in July,” said Tina Ghosh, an MA student from Srirampur.

The MA and MCom Part I exams were held in July and August last year and results were to be published between November and December.

Sukumar Mukherjee, controller of examinations, said he was aware of the plight of the examinees. “We have introduced an examination regulation for our distance education department from the 2011-2012 academic session and for that we need to install a new software. It could not be installed in time as there was no meeting of the university executive council for one year. We need to get approval for any new installation from the EC. However, a meeting was held on June 7 and we are expecting to publish the results,” he said.

Burdwan University has revised exam rules that would now require a student who fails in one paper to reappear for only that paper in Part II. Earlier, failing in one paper meant the student would have had to sit for all the Part I papers again.

The university was virtually running headless for the past seven months after Subrata Pal resigned as vice-chancellor on November 18. Acting vice-chancellor Shroshimohan Dan could not convene an EC meeting.

The distance education students who far outnumber the 3,500 regular postgraduate students allege neglect.

Sudhir Patra, from Chanditala in Hooghly and a student of Bengali, said: “I am a primary school teacher at Uttarpara, Hooghly. I came here for a master’s degree for advancement in my job. I feel the university should be more sincere about us.”

Anamika Koley, a student of political science, says: “I come from a poor family of Panagarh. I took up the distance education course as I did not get a chance in the regular course. My father is a farmer.”