Visva-Bharati topper score: 200 out of 100:

Insiders held the goof-up as an example of how standards have fallen in the varsity set up by Rabindranath Tagore

Snehamoy Chakraborty   |   TT  |  Santiniketan   |   29.09.21: Visva-Bharati authorities on Tuesday evening withdrew an admission test merit list from its official website after it was found that four candidates scored more than the total, including one who secured 200 out of 100.

Visva-Bharati insiders held the goof-up as an example of how standards have fallen in the varsity set up by Rabindranath Tagore.

The merit list of the two MEd courses on the varsity website on Monday evening showed the first two candidates in the social sciences group as having scored 196 and 151 marks, respectively, out of 100 and their counterparts in the language group with 200 and 198 marks out of 100.

“There is a central admission cell headed by VC Bidyut Chakrabarty as chairman, and departmental admission committees. How can such a blunder occur,” asked Sabuj Kali Sen, the former acting VC.

The coordinator of the central admission committee, Nimai Chand Saha, and the officiating public relations officer Anirban Sircar did not take calls or reply to text messages from this paper.

Sources said in the case of admission to Vinaya Bhavana, under which the education department falls, an applicant has to sit for a written exam comprising 60 marks and the 40 is calculated from the marks obtained in their earlier board or varsity exam.

The central admission committee monitors and cross-checks the merit list before publication, with 30 teachers and officials engaged in the entire admission process.

“We have no problem admitting a blunder and we had to withdraw it. But it was a technical mistake. It has harmed the reputation of the varsity,” said a varsity insider.

Several senior teachers claimed the gaffe was the result of exclusion of experienced teachers from the system and induction of new faces according to the whims of vice-chancellor Chakrabarty. “The VC drove out good faculty from the admission cell... those experienced in handling such issues have been replaced with those who support his wrongdoings,” said Sudipta Bhattacharyya, the outspoken president of the Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association.

No official connected with the admission system, along with the acting public relations officials, responded on the blunder and whether any action would be taken against those behind it.

Kanhu Charan Sahoo, the principal of Vinay Bhavana, said, “I have no information in this regard. Only the head of the education department can speak on the issue.”

However, head of the education department, Benudhar Chinara, refused to speak.

A senior varsity official said authorities would seek a written explanation for such a blunder from the persons responsible for compiling the list.