MeritTrac not suspended, will continue online assessment of MU till 2019

State education ministry was adamant about appointing a new agency but it has now changed its decision

Students studying at Mumbai University (MU) are in a dilemma as MeritTrac, the agency responsible for managing online assessment of examination papers, will continue to do the same for next academic year. The state education ministry has changed its decision as earlier it was firm on suspending the agency for the result mess caused in 2017 semester examinations.

Last year, MeritTrac was the agency managing online assessment where results of 477 summer semester examinations were delayed by three to four months. Teachers and examiners had a tough time dealing with the new online system initiated by MU and managed by MeritTrac. This led to various difficulties like errors in assessment, internet issues, server dysfunction and problems in marks.

Students faced a nightmare as their admission for further studies and employment opportunities were affected. Due to this, the state education ministry had decided to suspend MeritTrac and appoint a new agency for assessment of MU examinations to prevent any errors. In November 2017, Vinod Tawde, state education minister of school and higher education informed The Free

Press Journal, “We will appoint a new agency through a new tender process. We will also charge a penalty to MeritTrac for the mess and inconvenience caused to students.”

But till now, neither has the state charged any penalty nor have they appointed a new agency. A senior officer from state education ministry said, “A three year contract has been signed with MeritTrac for managing assessment of MU examinations. Thus the agency will continue to assess papers till 2019.” While a senior officer from MU said, “It is the decision of the state whether to appoint a new agency and we do not have any control over this. We have rectified and improvised the online assessment system from our end in terms of technical and manpower (teachers and staff) facility and there is no delay now.”

Students claimed there has been no delay in declaration of results of last two semester examinations. Manasvi Upadhay, a student said, “We received our results on time this year and there were no errors in the marks which were awarded to us. We just hope it continues this way because our friends faced a tough time in 2017 ad we do not wish to go through the same.”