Money Decides In State-run Anna University

A high profile scam involving authorities of Anna University receiving over 400 crore to award extra marks in revaluation has hit the headlines. Many students are said to have paid money to increase their marks in re-evaluation. Dr. Uma, Controller of Examination from 2015 to 2018 and a professor in the Department of Information Science and Technology was suspended, along with two others. Nine others have been named in the case under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1998. A scam was already exposed in 2012,when two professors submitted a letter that they were pressurised by the varsity officials to enhance marks for students during re evaluation. Though action was taken, it was later restored due to lack of solid evidence.

According to News18, in the FIR, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption has stated that Uma received Rs.10,000 from each student to award extra marks and pass the students during re-evaluation, and fake their answer sheets. Over three lakh students applied for re-evaluation in 2017, and the marks of 90,000 students were changed. The enhanced marks helped 73,000 students to pass the examination. Also,another scam broke out that many more empty mark sheets were printed than the required limit.

A senior officer of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), while speaking to The Hindu, has said that thousands of engineering students have paid bribes to enhance their scores. In the investigation and searches conducted in the Controller of Examinations’ house,they seized copies of answer sheets and documents of immovable assets. Hence,“Dr. Uma is booked under the charges of conspiracy, cheating, forgery and criminal conduct”. Also,the report said that the offense took place when the re-evaluation was done by a third examiner. The paper is sent for third re-evaluation if the first re-evaluation results show an increase of more than 15 per cent of the original score. Teachers who didn’t cooperate to increase the marks were barred from re-evaluation.

In November last year,the University had barred 1070 teachers for three years against performing activities like setting question papers and evaluation. University had been receiving complaints of issues on students receiving better grades following re evaluation.

According to Madurai Kamaraj, Manonmaniam Sundaranar, Mother Teresa and Alagappa University Teachers’ Association (MUTA),re-evaluation system should be made transparent and the re-evaluated marks should be uploaded on the website. “This scam is a nexus between the brokers and administrators. This is prevalent in universities, but it is extreme in Anna University. The starting point of corruption is in the appointment of vice chancellors, registrars and controllers. In Tamil Nadu,these appointments are not done without money. Many unqualified professors are appointed without even meeting the UGC criteria. In private engineering colleges,internal marks are hiked to maintain the reputation of the college and in external exams,brokers come to the rescue. After privatisation, the person who has money can only receive quality education. Culprits should be punished and their assets should be confiscated,” said M. Nagaraj, General Secretary of MUTA.

Students Federation of India (SFI) believes that to solve the issue an enquiry committee should be formed. After the investigation, action must be taken by the court against people who have made mistakes. “There are many fake engineers,so we need a committee for investigation. The degree of those students must be taken back. If we start an enquiry commission nearly 1000 crore violation scan be brought out from various colleges in the state,” said Mariyappan, State President of SFI.

Mariyappan says that the problem is going on for about 4-5 years. Already when there were student suicides,SFI had protested and put forth some demands. They had come across the information that students were failed in a planned manner. Later,SFI found out that money played a role in this. They had filed many complaints to stop this injustice committed against the students. However, no action was taken back then.

“Educational institutions are turning into money-earning business models and not for sharing knowledge or conducting research for the development of the country. The problem is with the management and the government. To become a lecturer, one has to pay 40 lakh, to become a VC, they should pay around Rs 5 crore to 25 crore. BJP is appointing RSS-backed vice chancellors in important educational institutions around the country like Anna University.Vice Chancellor M.K. Surappa or the law college vice chancellors, all are coming from a RSS background. Both State and Central Governments are encouraging corrupt practices in appointing professors and Vice Chancellors. To stop these practices we should rectify the errors in the administration. Government is just trying to escape by pointing towards Uma but it should also identify the people involved in various stages of corruption and take action against them.” he added.