Karnataka: CET results postponed till PU results confusion is clarified

Bengaluru: Admitting that there were lapses on the part of the PU Board in convincing students about the results, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Rathnakar on Friday said that the government has decided to postpone the CET results till the confusion is cleared.

Besides, an inquiry has been ordered against PU Board officials, who failed to give information to the media and parents to mitigate the confusion, he said. Mr Rathnakar denied that evaluators had erred while correcting answer scripts, and said that confusion was created by a private website which published wrong results. The PU Board has already registered complaint against the website responsible for the confusion, he said.

The Board was expected to announce the result in the first week of May. But as some parents and the media felt that the PU results ahead of CET results would have an adverse effect on the students, it was postponed by two weeks. The department has lost 10 days to conduct the revaluation work and to distribute photocopies of the answer papers. “We have requested the CET and Comed-K to postpone the results till we complete the process,” he said.

“The parents and students are expressing some apprehensions over the results. Majority of the issues are concerning physics, chemistry and biology answer scripts, which carry 30 marks for practicals. While students score high in practicals, they fail to get minimum marks in the exams. The parents are asking for grace marks, but they are given to only those students, who have attempted the wrong questions,” he said.

Admitting that the Board officials failed to give proper information to the public, which led to the present confusion and protests, the minister said that he will initiate action against officials after obtaining the inquiry report. “We have received 2,825 revaluation applications and over 20,000 applications seeking photocopies of answer sheets. The process will be completed by the month-end, when all confusion will be cleared,”' he said.

Mr Rathnakar said he will not spare any officials if there is any blatant mistake on their part. “I will not allow injustice to any student and will protect their interests. All the doubts will be cleared by the month-end,” he said.