Jhuma Bhandari from ward 6 of Mangalsen Municipality, who is pursuing her second year of Bachelor of Education (BEd) at the local Achham Multiple Campus, had a surgery to remove her kidney stones a few days ago. She is currently recuperating at her relative’s place in Surkhet.

However, amid her recovery, Bhandari is grappling with mental stress upon learning that her exam answer sheet for the Foundation of Education subject (code 412) was among the scores of answer sheets that have gone missing from the Office of the Controller of Examination, Tribhuvan University (TU), Kathmandu.

The university has decided to hold a re-examination on Wednesday from 7 am to 10 am.

Just last week, the university’s Office of the Controller of Examinations published a notice informing about the disappearance of the answer sheets of the first year examination of Bachelor level held in April 2023. Initially, the notice did not specify what subject’s or from which examination centre’s answer sheets had gone missing. Later it was found that the missing answer sheets were those for the Foundation of Education subject B.Ed from Achham including Bhandari’s.

Bhandari talking to the Post last week said she won’t be able to sit for the re-exam because of her illness. Even if she had been well, the university failed to give her enough time for preparations.

The shocking notice came at a time when students were waiting for the results of last year’s exams. Currently, instead of concentrating on preparing for the re-exam, students are both angry and frustrated at the disappearance of their answer sheets.

The Office of the Controller of Examination has already written to the Achham Multiple Campus and Kamalbazar Multiple Campus in the district to conduct the re-examination for the students on April 3.

“I am currently in Surkhet, and in no condition to travel. Even if I manage to travel, I won’t be able to perform well in the sudden, untimely re-examination,” said Bhandari.

“If I don't sit the exam, I will fail, and this is all due to the negligence and carelessness of the university. I am already battling my illness, and hearing about the re-exam feels like torture,” Bhandari added.

The students who were expecting the results after appearing in the exam last year are worried and going through mental stress upon learning that they will have to write the exam again without enough time for preparation.

The two colleges are sending information through local media, social media, and also sending messages to students’ personal phone numbers to notify them about the re-exam. But the students are vehemently opposed to the notice.

Tapendra Jaisi, a resident of Ghodasaina in ward 8 of Dhakari Rural Municipality, who is also studying in the bachelor's second year at Achham Multiple Campus, is under serious distress and pressure due to the re-exam notice.

Jaisi said that he is working in the Nepal Police and stationed in Kathmandu, and has been studying to improve his career advancement within the police force.

“I get very limited leaves from my job, and I used up all my allotted leaves during last year’s exam. It takes three days to reach the exam centre in Achham from Kathmandu and another three days to return. Now I am compelled to use the leaves that I had been saving for the bachelor's second year exam on this sudden re-exam,” said Jaisi.

“I am in such a dilemma right now, balancing my work and self-study, all the while worrying about how I will manage to sit for the second year’s exam if I take the re-exam this time,” Jaisi told the Post last week.

Chhatra Bista, chief of Achham Multiple Campus, said that the students are enduring unnecessarily suffering and mental stress due to the negligence of the Office of the Controller of Examinations.

“A total of 151 answer sheets of Achham Multiple Campus exam centre and 59 of Kamalbazar Multiple Campus exam centre went missing from the office of the Office of the Controller of Examinations located in Balkhu, Kathmandu. Last year, after the exam, we sent the answer sheets to the regional office of the Office of the Controller of Examination in Attariya, Kailali, and from there, they were transported to Kathmandu. We have documented evidence of the process,” said Bista.

“The results of the bachelor level exam should have been published six months after the exam, but without doing that, they suddenly informed us to retake the exam a year later because they lost the answer sheets. It is a blatant negligence by the university towards students’ future,” Bista added.

According to Purna Dhamala, chief of Kamalbazar Multiple Campus, the students who are being forced to retake the exam should have already been in their third year of bachelor's studies. But, due to the university’s failure to conduct exams on time and publish results in a timely manner, they are being held back.

“Because of the irregularities and negligence of the Tribhuvan University, it takes six to seven years to complete a four-year bachelor's degree. The university has broken the trust of students across the country so many times that students, parents, and also teachers are having trust issues,” said Dhamala.

Due to low income, difficult terrain, and a lack of amenities, among other things, more than 40 percent of enrolled students at the bachelor level move to cities and only return to Achham for the exams, according to officials of the two colleges.

“This is a very cruel decision by the Tribhuvan University to conduct a re-exam a year later because of their own mistakes, without giving proper time for preparation to students. Such incidents are the main reason for the declining appeal of the TU-affiliated community colleges among students,” said Dhamala.

The enraged students of Achham Multiple Campus and Kamalbazar Multiple Campus are asking, "Why do students always suffer due to the university’s mistakes?”