Mass failure shocks TN teacher training students

Dec. 26: Mystery surrounds the ‘mass-failure’ of the entire 4,500-plus teacher-training students from Tamil Nadu pursuing courses in 30-odd institutions in Bengaluru and Mysore.

Most of them had written their exams in Tamil and some of them had Tamil as the second language. Even students who had consistently scored around 90 per cent in the first year have failed after a second valuation of the papers in Chennai.

Affected students and parents, along with leaders of the Bengaluru Tamil Sangam, are seeking the help of the Karnataka chief minister, Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa, and his Tamil Nadu counterpart, Mr M. Karunanidhi, who is presently at his daughter’s house in Bengaluru.

Ms Kanmani, a second-year student of Gnaneswari Teacher Training Institute in Bangarupet and native of Arur in Dharampuri district, told this newspaper that the ‘clueless’ college management had asked them to pay Rs 500 per paper as revaluation fee now. She added that the correspondent had told the students that the institute’s pass percentage was 95 after first valuation in Bengaluru, but after another valuation in Chennai everyone had failed.

“I scored over 80 per cent in the first year, but now they say I failed in two subjects by just two marks each,” said another affected student from Vellore.

The Tamil Sangam secretary, Mr G. Damodaran, wondered why the papers were sent for second valuation to Chennai and added that the state director of examination had even refused to meet them to discuss the issue.