4-year debate ends as Bangalore University to issue tearable markscards

BENGALURU: Bangalore University has decided to issue tearable marksheets to all its graduating students from 2020, ending a four-year debate on the use of tearable or non-tearable marksheets.
At a recent syndicate meeting, the BU registrar (evaluation) raised the issue of students approaching the university for a hard copy of their markscard. The university has been uploading e-certificates through the National Academic Depository (NAD) portal (digilocker system) as UGC and the state higher education department have been pushing for digitisation of records.
Many students said embassies and certain employers do not accept the certificates downloaded from the digilocker. The special secretary to the governor also asked universities to provide a hard copy along with e-certificates," said registrar (evaluation) Srinivas C. While some syndicate members insisted non-tearable markscards (tamperproof and waterproof) have to be used, it was finally resolved to use the tearable ones.
"The certificates are available on digilocker, which cannot be tampered with. The hard copy is being given because some students have raised an issue. The non-tearable markscards cost Rs 35-40 per markscard, and tearable ones Rs 2 apiece. There is no necessity to spend much on markscard as its credibility can be easily verified in the NAD," said vice-chancellor Jayakar Shetty.
Markscards from 2020 will be issued after fresh tenders are called. "Some syndicate members wanted non-tearable markscards, which is a waste of money. While we had called a tender for non-tearable markscards following a syndicate decision, I cancelled it later and decided to go with tearable. If BU has decided on tearable markscards, then it's a right decision," said KR Venugopal, former V-C under whose tenure the markscards issue was raised.
In 2021, the higher education department asked all vice-chancellors to use the free-of-cost NAD facility. In September 2022, the governor's office had written to universities, asking them to issue hard copies as well.