Indore : Visually impaired Rakesh Patidar was denied entry to an examination hall at Shri Vaishnav Institute of Management on Friday. He was told he reached late for the test by 25 minutes.
But the reason behind Rakesh reaching late, raised serious questions on how the institutes affiliated with Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV) treated the visually impaired. He could not find a suitable writer.
Rakesh reached the centre for the examinations for BBA 4th Semester Entrepreneurship paper, well ahead of the stipulated time for the tests. But, the institute disallowed him to use service of the writer he brought along, claiming that latter was just one standard below him in academic course.
DAVV has a rule which mandated that writers should be studying in two or more standards below the visually challenged examinee.
Rakesh told Free Press that he was in a soup. Despite his handicap, he went in search of a replacement. “I found a Standard 10th student, who agreed to help me. I rushed with him to the centre, but they returned me saying that I reported late for the exam,” he said.
DAVV also has a norm that prevents any student from being allowed to appear in the examination, if he/she is late by 30 minutes.
“But, even after the confusion about the writer, I returned within 25 minutes of the examination starting. This was five minutes before the stipulated time,” Rakesh said, crying foul over the insensitive invigilators.
From the exam centre, Rajesh straight away went to the DAVV and lodged a complaint with against Shri Vaishnav Institute of Management claiming that he had reached five minutes early to the permissible time, but still was not allowed to take the exam.
The university officers said that they have issued a show-cause notice to the institute asking to clear the air. “We have asked the institute as to why they did not let Rajesh to appear in the exam. We have given three days time to the institute to reply,” deputy registrar (examination) Prajwal Khare said.
The university has no provision of providing writers to visually-impaired students during exams. Many a time, visually impaired students demanded for writers but the university rejected their demand saying that it’s the responsibility of the student to find writers.
