Mumbai: Half of law batch fails exam, college says no to re-test

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The final year students of the Government Law College were in for a shock on Tuesday when they found out that more than half of the batch had failed in an internal assessment of the Drafting, Pleading and Conveyance (DPC) subject. However, what is more distressing for them is the fact that none of them would be able to apply for re-evaluation or re-examination, which has otherwise been the norm so long. Even after waiting for five hours outside the principal's office on Tuesday, the students couldn't submit their request application, and instead was asked by the security guard to vacate the premises.

With their final examination approaching, the students are stressed over the fact that if the results stayed as it is, then they would not be allowed to appear for the final paper and end up losing a year. Out of the total 270 final year students, 150 have failed in the internal assessment.

Process stopped by principal

Sources said that earlier the Churchgate college would allow re-examination and re-evaluation in such cases, but the current principal took the decision to stop the process abruptly causing major panic among students. However, the students are angry over the fact that the same rule was not being applied to students who couldn't appear for the examination due to medical reasons.

"How can we have different rules for different sets of students? First of all it is impossible that so many of us failed in the paper. Secondly, we are not being allowed to see the answer-sheets. Our major contention is that how a re-test can be held for some students, and when the others ask for it, they are shown the rule book," said one of the students, who has been a top grader throughout the course.

'What about our careers?'

Another student, who has already applied to institutes abroad for higher studies, said, "The principal is adamant on her stand even without realising how this decision affects our careers.

What trouble should a college principal have in listening to our problems? Instead a security guard was asked to tell us to vacate the premises. This is definitely not expected from a college of such repute. We are all good-scorers and hard-working students and so have got admission to this college in the first place. Why would so many of us be casual about a single paper?" Even after repeated attempts to contact Principal Suvarna Keole, she was unavailable for comments.

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