Telangana: Software flaws messed up Inter results, concludes probe report

HYDERABAD: Despite knowing that there were flaws in the software and could result in errors, the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) and Globarena Technologies Pvt Limited went ahead and declared the Inter results. The three-member expert committee, set up by the government to probe the goof-ups, has found both the board and the firm guilty in its report prepared on Thursday.
"Board and Globerana claimed that they tried to fix the errors, but couldn't fully rectify them. There are major inconsistencies in the software," said a member of the committee, adding that they couldn't submit the report on Thursday and would do so on Friday. Sources added that the committee has conducted a thorough enquiry into all technical aspects and met many officials, both from the board and the firm.
One of the committee members said that instead of trying to blame one party or another, they concentrated more on showing the way forward in order to relieve students of trauma. "We made it clear that the software cannot be used in the future, not even for supplementary exams. They need to go back to the methods followed earlier as they seemed to be working perfectly. If needed they can set up manual centres and use old conventional methods," the report suggested.
"The software was not error-free. They knew multiple errors could crop up. It's about the lives of nine lakh students and their families. They should have been 100% sure before using it," a committee member said, adding that when compared with previous years more candidates have applied for re-verification and re-counting. "We had to depend on these figures to estimate the damage caused due to technical glitches."
‘BIE, Globarena worked without agreement’
The report also commented on lack of paperwork between TSBIE and Globarena. It said the board and the firm were working without proper agreements in place.
TOI was the first to report this anomaly on Thursday. The probe also said to have found the board guilty as they failed to do their homework before giving the contract to Globarena.
The state on April 22 issued a GO directing members to investigate if there are any errors in publication of results, suggest steps to reduce errors, if any, among other aspects.