‘UP not for beginners’: Pharmacy students wrote Jai Shri Ram, cricketers' name in exam, pass with 56%

NEW DELHI: In a shocking news, at least four pharmacy students of Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal University in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh who wrote ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in their first year semester exam were declared passed with 56% marks. The matter came to light after a student, Divyanshu Singh, alleged irregularities in evaluation.

The Raj Bhawan took cognizance of the allegations and formed a committee to look into the matter. Following this, a RTI response revealed that the marks were rigged and two teachers who were involved in the evaluation were suspended.

Later, when the answer sheets were re-evaluated by an external examiner, these students were given zero marks.

On August 3, 2023, Divyanshu Singh had given the roll numbers of at least 18 DPharmacy students for re-evaluation. He also alleged that the evaluators took money in return for awarding extra marks in the first-year exam. A letter in this regard was also sent to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, UP Governor, UP chief minister and the vice-chancellor of the university, according to reports.

The students had written ‘Jai Shri Ram’, cricketers names such as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and lyrics of movie songs in the answer sheets. Despite this, the students were given 42 out of 75 marks, which is 56%.

The answer sheets of the students have now gone viral on social media platforms and many have raised concerns over the irregularities and stated ‘UP is not for beginners’. As per reports, Vinay Verma and Manish Gupta were the two teachers who were suspended.

Sharing the image of one of the answer sheets, Sajeed Khalid, treasurer, Welfare Party of India Kerala State Committee wrote of X: “In UP, pharmacy students were allegedly given 50% marks just for writing 'Jai Sriram' and names of cricketers in their answer papers! This shocking revelation surfaced when a diligent student exercised their right to information and uncovered their answer sheet.”