Merit holders falter in first-year Ayurveda exam

NASHIK: Till-now considered merit holders and toppers in their subject, students of the post-graduation course in Ayurveda were in for a rude shock when the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) declared that only 40 per cent of them had cleared their first-year exam.

Of the 247 students who took the exam, 140 failed. This was the first time that the MUHS conducted the PG Ayurved examinations.

In fact, on Tuesday the aggrieved students staged an agitation at the MUHS, protesting against the “poor” results. Stating that the changed pattern of the question paper was introduced for the first time without sufficient notice, the students said, “We were asked to attempt five sections of 20 marks each.

For every section, the passing level was 10 marks and the overall passing was 50 out of 100. Even those who scored an overall of 50 marks, but failed to secure 10 marks in a given section, have been declared as ‘fail’.

The detained students will have to reappear for the exams for the entire subject and this will waste our six months,” said one student from Pune.

Surprisingly, many merit students have also failed in the exams. “A girl who had topped the CET and all the three years of her Bachelors course exams, conducted by the same university, failed.

How is this to be explained?” asked a merit student, who has also failed. However, the students took their grievance to the varsity, which has now appointed a committee to look into the matter.

The committee, comprising members of board of studies and some deans, met at Nashik on Tuesday where a student delegation was also called to present themselves before this committee.

“Though we were heard by the commitee on Tuesday we were informed that some decision will be taken by August 10, but from what it now looks like, this process is going to take time and our fate hangs till a concrete decision is taken,” said a student who was representing the delegation.

Sources in the university said the results were good enough, while the students were protesting only because they had failed in the exams.

However, even the pass students have gone through the changed question paper. It has been decided that a fact-finding committee will present its report to the controller of examinations, who will further report to the vice-chancellor and then the decision will be taken.

Till then, the students can only wait and watch.