Mumbai University upgrades assessment system to streamline supplements checking

Students can now heave a sigh of relief as, in order to tackle the issue of extra supplements, the Mumbai University (MU) has now tweaked its online assessment system. The supplements will be scanned, uploaded, streamlined and classified into sections of the particular student as per the up-gradation in the software.

This move has come after the Bombay High Court (HC) directed the MU last week to give supplements to students where the varsity had decided otherwise. HC stated students should be given supplements in addition to the main answer booklet if needed. The court mentioned there could be candidates who would finish in one paper book, but some may have a handwriting which may require additional answer scripts thus it would not be correct for the university to not provide the same.

While, the university wanted to avoid supplements to prevent confusion.

Now, the university has adhered to the direction of the court. Arjun Ghatule, director (in-charge), board of examinations and evaluation of the MU, said, "We have made necessary changes in the software of On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for online assessment of winter semester examinations.

The additional supplements will be scanned and uploaded into specific folders of that student."

Also, the university has increased the main answer booklet from 36 pages to 40 pages. Other additional supplements like graph paper or drawing paper will be scanned manually if needed. Ghatule said, "Some papers like drawing paper of engineering course or graph papers of nautical science cannot be scanned in the system and will be done manually."

Initially, the university had announced not to give extra supplements to avoid misplacement and repetition of answer papers. In the last semester examinations, supplements were not scanned and uploaded properly and were misplaced or could not be traced. A senior officer of MU said, “Some supplements went missing as they were not scanned along with the main answer booklet. Supplements were missed out and marks were not added. Also, the supplements were placed in the wrong basket and examiners had to face errors.”