Academic Woes

One of our senior residents lodged a complaint to me in writing about some students. They had been caught copying in term ending theory examination. I asked why the students were not told not to copy and the matter ended there. Then I was told that one of our Associate Professors was told about this verbally, and she advised the said resident to put up a written complaint. Written words have great power in this world. I knew there was no action recommended for this offence by the university. It recommended action only for misconduct during the university examination, though marks of the term ending examination were counted in the internal assessment of the students. I send the letter to the academic committee. For those not aware of what the academic committee is, I will state briefly its structure and function. Great brains from all the academic departments in the institute are invited members of the committee. They meet once in a couple of months and storm their brains (same as brainstorming, I guess) on various academic issues. So they met on this issue and did their stuff. I received their answer two weeks later. They wanted to know why the students were not told not to carry their mobiles and books into the exam hall, as in university examination. Presumptuous of them. They had been told, but they disobeyed. I suppose body search of medical students prior to entry into the exam hall would be in poor taste, even if we had the appropriate manpower for it. They advised us to inform the students a week in advance about the consequences of such a malpractice, though they admitted they had not yet decided what the consequences would be. They had formed a subcommittee to decide the action to be taken in such cases. I think they missed the main point. The academic committee should deliberate on the issue of why bright medical students resort to copying in exams. Something must be seriously wrong with the system so that they have to do this. I have written before in some posts what is wrong and what should be done to correct it. But the decision makers seem to have missed those posts. The committee wants us to inform the students that copying is a crime. As if they don’t know it. They have gone through school and junior college, and then four years of medical exam, sitting for countless exams. It is extremely naïve to think they would not know it at this stage. The information is clearly given on the website of the university, in a language they understand very well. Informing the same again is superfluous. The academic committee seems to have evolved into a committee of municipal ‘Babus’ asking for explanations bypassing the main important issue, and forming subcommittees so that they can pass the buck. It also seems funny that they should try to decide what the disciplinary action should be on a matter concerning the university. They should ask the university. I did not ask the university myself because the inquiry should go through the head of institute rather than head of one department. Perhaps there are too many fine brains in a single committee so that coherent thinking becomes somewhat taxing.