About two-thirds of the students who appeared for the first year engineering exam of the Mumbai University in December have failed, a shocking indicator of the performance in an important stream.
According to the results declared on Friday, of the 29,565 students from all affiliated colleges who appeared for the first semester exam only 10,245 have passed. That is just 35%, which is about the same pass percentage at the exam in the previous year.
Students are blaming this very poor show on the tough curriculum and poor quality of teaching. However, teachers say that with the proliferation of colleges the quality of students opting for engineering is declining.
The results come 75 days after the exam, way beyond the stipulated 45 days period mandated under the Maharashtra University Act 1994.
The delay has been attributed to glitches in the online assessment system which was introduced recently to quicken the work.
From the details available it seems that of the 11 papers that the students appeared for many of them fared worst in the computer programming-1.
While there has been no improvement in the performance from the previous year, about 81% students had failed the first semester exam in 2011-12.
"The curriculum at the engineering level is much higher as compared to class 12, so we find it difficult to cope up. Moreover, many of the teachers don't know how to teach," complained one student, who attended private tutorials but failed in two papers.
Students also wondered about the reliability of the online assessment system. "We don't know how well they scanned thousands of answer papers. There could be something wrong as I thought I had done quite well," said another student. He plans to apply for revaluation of his papers.
The professors, however, point to a "lack of skills" among students. Padma Deshmukh, controller of exams, said, "Since the number of engineering colleges has gone up these days, the quality of students is declining. Those who don't have engineering skills are also doing the engineering course."
The results of 1,358 students have been withheld on account of low resolution of the answer sheets scanned on low quality scanners. The exam house would scan them again to complete the assessment.
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