Preparing for an examination is a gruelling exercise. The tension-filled days and nights are the bane of a student’s existence, and even the brightest among them admit to feeling nervous, anxious and afraid. When the process itself is so tortuous, and the students’ minds are already burdened with book knowledge that they will regurgitate on to the answer sheets, it is necessary for the authorities to ensure that there are few, if any, obstacles in the exercise.

It is therefore bewildering to find that Mumbai University officials are apparently falling over their own feet in the matter of conducting examinations. This is not some out-of-the-ordinary job for them, exams happen every year and the procedure is not different every time. Yet, numbering goes awry, names are botched up, categories get mixed up. The wrong question papers are sent, and sometimes, papers are not sent at all. Hall tickets are incorrectly allotted. Answer sheets are mixed up. Students often have to literally go from pillar to post trying to sort out the tangles.