Bangalore University adopts grading system for internal assessment

Students pursuing undergraduate courses at Bangalore University (BU) can heave a sigh of relief as the varsity will replace the usual marking system for Internal Assessment (IA) with the grading system. The grades, introduced by BU, as A, B, C, D and F, will not affect the performance of students. Sources in the university confirmed the move and said, “This is going to be placed before the academic council meeting which is scheduled on Thursday.”

In the last academic council meeting, there was a proposal to withdraw the current system on a pilot basis. But because of opposition from some of the council members, BU had decided to conduct a survey among students and teachers to collect their opinion. BU has now decided to introduce the grading system instead of allotting marks in IA. “In the existing system IA carries 10 marks. The allotment of marks is mainly based on students’ classroom behaviour, attendance and general questions related to particular subject,” said an official.

“There have been several cases where male teachers harassed female students, expecting favours from the latter to allot IA marks. With the grading system, no teacher can cheat students or harass them,” said a senior faculty from KLE College. The BU vice chancellor Dr N Prabhu Dev wrote a letter to all the affiliated college principals asking their opinion regarding the matter. Sources said that most of the principals responded positively. BU officials hope the issue will pass in the council this time.