LLB paper replaced minutes before exam because of a “glitch”
First year law students, currently taking their semester two exams, had to face a one-hour delay on Tuesday as the University of Mumbai (MU) replaced the question paper originally sent to colleges
First year law students, currently taking their semester two exams, had to face a one-hour delay on Tuesday as the University of Mumbai (MU) replaced the question paper originally sent to colleges.
While officials from the university said the examination department had erroneously sent the previous year’s question paper which led to them halting the exam, students claimed the original question paper was leaked on social media. Later in the day, the varsity’s senate released a statement calling it a “glitch”.
“We were all seated in our respective classrooms at the allotted exam centre when we were suddenly asked to step out of the college. We were told that the exercise was being conducted so that the authorities could take fresh printouts of a new set of question papers,” said a second year LLB student who appeared for her Constitutional Law exam at a college in Badlapur. She added that several students at her exam centre already had a copy of the question paper on WhatsApp by 11am.
Minutes before the exam was scheduled to start, MU reached out to all its exam centres to inform them that a replacement question paper will be sent and the college administration will have to take fresh printouts of the paper.
“The question paper was not leaked. The only reason we changed it at the last minute was because our officials realised their mistake very late. We however ensured that the previous year’s question paper is recalled and a fresh one for the current batch is released to all colleges,” said a spokesperson for the university. He added that the revised paper was given to students at 12 noon, and the exam time was extended by an hour to accommodate the delay.
“Students across the city faced the same problem. Everyone was made to wait outside the centre for an hour while new question papers were being printed. Thankfully, the paper was very easy, and most of us are confident of scoring well,” said another second year LLB student, on condition of anonymity.
A handful of colleges, however, confirmed to HT that the exam had already started at their centres, after which the papers had to be taken back and new question papers were provided to students.
Meanwhile, members of the MU senate including Pradip Sawant, in their statement released on Tuesday evening demanded that varsity officials take responsibility and initiate appropriate action against those responsible for this error that added to students’ anxiety minutes before the exam.
MU had postponed all winter 2022 examination scheduled from October; the first-year law students are currently appearing for their second semester exams (from the summer 2022 session).