Future assistant professors upset with Karnataka Examination Authority
Bengaluru: The Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA), which just concluded the competitive examinations for the recruitment of 2,160 assistant professors in Government First Grade Colleges in the State of Karnataka, now have a new headache. A day after the completion of the examinations, there were numerous complaints about the History and (compulsory) General Knowledge papers.
According to the candidates, on March 4, when the KEA conducted the history examination, the question paper was very similar to a test paper that had been published in one of the websites.
"Out of 100 questions, 70 questions were from a model question paper published by a website. This meant that the person who set the question paper had copied directly from the website and simply altered the question numbers. Similarly, 70 questions in the General Knowledge, (compulsory paper II) were also from a website run by a magazine. In both papers, the questions and the (answer) options were similar to the questions asked in the website,” alleges a student.
Lost in Translation
Interestingly, candidates also complained of questions not being translated properly into Kannada. It seems the people who prepared the question papers, opted for an online translation service which gave the wrong meaning in Kannada.
Several phrases like drain theory, doctrine of lapse and subsidiary alliance, to name a few, were wrongly translated. This became a major problem for candidates who had chosen to answer their examinations in the Kannada language. The candidates who spoke to this newspaper, urged the KEA to review the question papers from experts to ensure total transparency in the examination. "Experts were hired to prepare the question papers. How can there be these mistakes, if these experts worked sincerely?
“Those who browsed through a few websites now have a clear advantage over other candidates. The KEA must hold an inquiry to find out which students benefited by this dishonesty and these candidates should be barred from the next procedure," they urged.
When contacted, an officer from the State Higher Education Department, informed us that the government had received several complaints regarding this issue and would seek a clarification from the KEA.
