CET imbroglio: KUPMA urges KEA to exclude out-of-syllabus questions from grading process

KUPMA urges KEA to address out-of-syllabus questions in CET to alleviate student stress and ensure fairness.

Expressing concern over out-of-syllabus questions asked in this year’s Common Entrance Test (CET) conducted by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), the Karnataka Unaided Pre-University College Management Association (KUPMA), Mangaluru on Saturday, April 20, urged the KEA to respond “immediately and positively” to address the mental agony of students, parents and teachers.

Addressing presspersons, the president of the association M. Mohan Alva, and its secretary Narendra L. Nayak said: “It is unprecedented and highly distressing that this year’s CET included approximately 45 out-of-syllabus questions across the Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology subjects. Such a significant error not only disrupts the fairness of the examination but also inflicts unnecessary stress on students and undermines the credibility of the examination. We urge KEA to address why these discrepancies occurred and to disclose whether the question papers were adequately reviewed by the team of expert lecturers.”

They said that the KEA should consider excluding the out-of-syllabus questions from the grading process. The results should be recalculated based only on the syllabus-aligned questions to ensure fairness in student evaluation.

Terming the out-of-syllabus questions asked as an “academic accident”, Mr. Nayak, who is also the chairman of Expert Pre-University Colleges, Mangaluru, said that it needed “emergency” attention to de-stress about three lakh students across Karnataka and their parents.

Mr. Nayak said that the CET becoming a source of confusion and creating anxiety among students reflected the negligence of the KEA in conducting the test and the KUPMA condemned it.

Dr. Alva, who is also the chairman of Alva’s Education Foundation, Moodbidri, said that for the first time since the inception of CET in 1984, the examination included a surprising number of out-of-syllabus questions.

“The primary concern now is determining who is responsible for this oversight and who will be accountable,” Dr. Alva said.