Hundreds of college students faced a bizarre situation across Kashmir on Wednesday when they turned up to write examination papers for geography but the question paper supplied by university authorities was about geology.
If this was a mistake, here is what is beyond bizarre.
On Monday, large number Persian literature students had to return without writing their exams when it was found that authorities at University of Kashmir had totally forgotten to print the question papers after announcing dates for the college examinations.
The students of first semester were to appear in the exams for their backlog of Persian literature on Monday, while fourth semester degree students arrived at their respective exam centers on Wednesday for geography.
For the first lot there were no question papers at all, and for the later lot geology question papers were printed by university authorities instead of geography for which dates were announced.
Controller examinations for University of Kashmir, Farooq Ahmad Mir told Greater Kashmir the problem of wrong question paper printing or not printing at all occurred due to a new examination scheme and shifted the blame to question paper setters.
“Due to new examination scheme many students had wrongly opted for different optional subjects which led to the clash in the examination. There is also a fault of paper setter which cannot be ignored,” Mir said.
“We will be taking action against the paper setter for his fault.”
The university has not yet announced new dates for examinations to the two papers.
“Question papers could not be printed as university administration forgot. This reckless attitude of university administration is astonishing,” a senior professor at the degree college Anantnag said.
“There is a clear communication gap between those declaring date sheets and those printing examination papers.”
Another senior professor at Government Degree College Tral said many students were sitting inside the examination centers for the question paper on Monday.
He said the Persian literature papers were actually not printed because the college did not receive any question paper set from university and students had to leave the campus without appearing in the examination.
Many students talked to Greater Kashmir describing the situation as embarrassing.
“We had prepared ourselves for these papers but we could not appear in the examination. It is shameful on the part of university administration that they forgot to print our question papers. The university officials are clearly playing with our future,” said Bushra, a student who gave only one name.
“How can we prepare again for these papers in a short span? The rescheduling of these papers will further waste our time,” she said.
Parents on the other hand have demanded a probe into this matter, asking to fix responsibility for the negligence.
“Why is the university keeping silence and why students are bearing the brunt of their negligence?” asked a parent in a group, with others echoing the same questions and concerns about their wards.