Mumbai University loses big on photocopy and re-evaluation charges

MUMBAI: Two years of online exams have proved to be quite a loss-making venture for Mumbai University, which saw its revenue for re-evaluation of answer books drop to a paltry Rs 250. A year ago, in all of 2020-21, this sum was Rs 26,075. This is a steep drop from previous years. Interestingly, in 2019-20 till November, MU received Rs 2.8 crore from aggrieved students of the past semester.
Information received by RTI shows that from April 1, 2021 to October 31, 2021, MU received Rs 250 for re-evaluation and nothing as photocopying charges. Similarly, in 2020-21, while Rs 26,075 was received for re-evaluation, another Rs 395 was received as photocopying charges. The RTI application was filed by activist Vihar Durve.
Re-evaluation and photocopying charges make up a giant slice of the university’s revenue. In 2018-19, the sum was Rs 3.7 crore, higher than the previous year. With take-from-home online MCQ (multiple choice questions) exams, re-evaluation revenue was reduced to nothing for the exams conducted in 2020. “There will be no revenue for this year as the exams are all MCQ format,” exam controller Vinod Patil had told TOI in March 2021. “But with the return of offline exams, we will once again see students applying for photocopying and re-evaluation,” said a university officer. Re-evaluation charges per paper is Rs 250 and photocopying costs Rs 50 a paper.
Students taking university exams are losing faith in its assessment,” said RTI activist Vihar Durve. The situation is more confounding for students who don’t receive re-evaluation results in time and are thus forced to appear for supplementary exams. In several cases, results of re-evaluation are declared after the students appear for supplementary exams.
“Exams are critical for students and it is important for the university to appoint evaluators who realize that they need to take utmost care while assessing every paper. These scores determine the rest of their life -- which college they can enrol in for higher studies or the career they can take up, or the organization they can join,” said Durve.