No KCET re-exam, exclude questions out of syllabus, State govt tells KEA

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: The State government has recommended that the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) refrain from conducting a reexam for Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET) held on April 18 and 19.

The issue had been that about 50 out-of-syllabus questions had allegedly appeared in all question papers (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology).

The alternative solution suggested is that the out-of-syllabus questions be excluded in the evaluation.

Apparently, the out of syllabus questions being referred to in fact belonged to an old syllabus. The KEA received more than 4,000 objections on this issue.

An expert committee had been appointed to study the issue and make recommendations. The suggestions have now been forwarded by the Higher Education Department to the KEA.

Many students don’t favour re-exams in May and June because they coincide with other competitive exams like Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) and National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET).

The issue is that the evaluation excluding the out-ofsyllabus question could be challenged in court.

“Keeping in view the Expert Committee report and opinion of many stakeholders and the paramount interest of protecting the legitimate interests of students in mind, KEA is directed to remove the questions that are out of syllabus of 2023-24 syllabus from the assessment and assess only the remaining questions. The number of questions that will be removed from the assessment is as follows: Physics-9 Chemistry-15 Mathematics-15 Biology-11,” the notification by the Higher Education Department Principal Secretary Srikar MS said.