Karnataka University asks students to stop writing name of Gods, sacred symbol on answer sheet

Students usually seek divine intervention during examinations to get good marks and often write religious words such as ‘Om’, a sacred symbol in Hinduism, or other mantras before attempting to answer questions. However, the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), the affiliating authority for all medical, dental and Ayush colleges in Karnataka, has not taken kindly to such things and has decided to ban students from following such practice. It has issued a circular to all affiliated colleges in this regard. Besides the ban on religious words, the university has seven “don’ts” in the October 1 circular.

“Do not write any word/sentence — starting from page 03 like names of Gods of your faith etc.,” reads the first “don’t” in the circular issued by Registrar (Evaluation) Dr M K Ramesh. Writing one’s name, PTO at the end of a page, irrelevant messages, numbers or sentences, signs, symbols, letter or word and tampering with answer books would also be construed as revealing the identity of the examinee and will be treated as a malpractice, it says.

Sandhya Avadhani, deputy director (pre-exam), at the university said some students do such things to give a signal to the evaluators. “These directions have been issued to ensure the identity of students taking an exam is not revealed to evaluators,” she said. She said some examinees might be doing it unintentionally but many do it intentionally so that when they approach an evaluator for more marks they could identify them with those signs and symbols. “It’s an indication indirectly,” Avadhani said. According to officials, such instructions have already been in place and the circular is only a reiteration so the students, invigilators and college managements know these exist.