The Student Evaluation Division (SED) of IGNOU has created history in completing the evaluation and result declaration of over three lakh students, who appeared for the December 2010 examination, in less than 45 days.

In addition, the pending results of nearly 70,000 learners, with regard to various term examinations prior to December 2010 for want of completion of assignments, practicals and updating of marks, were also successfully completed by the SED.

Proactive steps by the Academic Council and the Board of Management by promulgating an ordinance — that makes it obligatory for Directors of the Schools and Coordinators of various programmes to declare the results within 45 days — were taken in right spirit by the entire teaching and non-teaching community of the University. They succeeded in facing this formidable challenge.

The decentralisation of the evaluation and examination administration processes at seven Regional Centres was done under the supervision of a Deputy Registrar for each of this evaluation centres. It was closely supervised by Prof Pushplata Tripathi, Registrar, SED, and a team of senior University professors.

It was a mammoth task for SED to evaluate around 11.7 lakh answersheets and handle approximately eight lakh assignments. The December 2010-TEE was held over a span of 24 days where nearly 3.7 lakh hall tickets were sent to the students across the country. The SED coordinated with 844 exam centres for 1,677 courses, with number of courses ranging between 55 and 97 per day. Over 1,200 evaluators from renowned colleges and universities across the country and IGNOU faculty members were involved in the evaluation work.

More than 97 percent results were declared and uploaded at 12.01 a.m. on 14th February, 2011. As on 23rd February, nearly two percent results were processed. Some minor issues related to results are being attended to, while a large chunk of backlog has also been cleared during this time. The University had decentralised the evaluation work by extending the Scheme of Spot Evaluation to the evaluation centres in Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Chennai, Pune, Guwahati and Kolkata. Different measures were taken up in order to gear up the system in this direction. The evaluation of answerscripts were monitored by the senior faculty members, directors and examination committee/standing committee on evaluation in order to meet the deadline.

The evaluation centres, under their supervision, tied up with the local reputed educational institutions/universities, for evaluating answerscripts at their premises. This arrangement was done where there were a huge number of answerscripts to be taken care of. Continuous flow of result data was possible with the help of nearly 30 computer personnel and software engineers who were involved in the data processing at SED. The Regional Centres, Study Centres, Schools of Studies, Directors, faculty members and Pro-Vice Chancellors played a crucial role in getting the assignments evaluated and providing assignment grades to SED well in time.

The University also organises the Convocation each year to confer degrees, diplomas and certificates to successful learners. The Convocation is held via teleconferencing at 44 Regional Centres. This year’s Convocation will be held on 2nd April, 2011, wherein nearly 2.1 lakh students are expected to receive degrees, diplomas and certificates. Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister for HRD, has kindly consented to be the Chief Guest at the event.

The entire SED team, IGNOU faculty, teachers from universities and colleges across the country, computer staff of SED and Computer Division deserve special appreciation for this commendable work. While congratulating them, I am confident that the experiences they have gained in this laborious task will help the University institutionalise this feat and create a robust, fool-proof decentralised system for all student support activities of the University

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