Students of the University of Mumbai, who are currently writing their final exams, have found an innovative way to express their exam-related grievances via the popular Tamil song Why this Kolaveri Di.
A group of students spoofed the musical hit titled Why this Gola bhari Di (why to fill these circles?) to highlight the problems they face while filling the optical mark reader (OMR) answersheets. Students have to shade nearly 30 circles with black ink, before they can start answering their questions.
Speaking about the new OMR system, Siddharth Singh a post-graduate student said, “Everyday, we have to fill in more than 30 circles. All the boxes seem similar as the numbers in the boxes are the same. As a result, the students get terribly confused.”
Another student, Pooja Sawant said, “It is a time consuming process…It is very irritating as it takes around five to seven minutes to shade the circles.”
The University had introduced OMR answersheets last year during the term of former controller of examination Prof Vilas Shinde in order to expedite the process of preparing and declaring results. In this OMR system, students have to shade the numbered circles strictly with black ink for details like seat number, unique question paper code, question paper code, sections, language of writing the examination and also the syllabus (revised/old).
Frustrated with the new method, the students made a spoof of the song and uploaded it on the social networking site Facebook.
When asked about the same Dr M.S. Kurhade, officer on special duty, MU denied the allegations saying, “The college principals and supervisors have been asked to give the answersheets to students 10 minutes before the scheduled time of the exam.”