Kashmir University clarifies after facing criticism over flawed answer key system

Srinagar:After coming under criticism for uploading “flawed” answer keys of State Eligibility Test (SET) held across Kashmir on March 11, Kashmir University (KU) on Friday clarified that it was not “involved either directly or indirectly in setting the question papers or framing of keys”.
It also promised action against paper setters under the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines.
A varsity spokesman, in a statement, Friday said: “The question papers are set at the national level as per the UGC guidelines by a team comprising minimum five senior faculty members of the concerned subject from different universities/zones, who sit together for a week and draft the papers/keys as per the UGC scheme and forward the same to the conducting authority”.
Saying that the answer keys, as received, are “faithfully uploaded for assessment/objections by the aspirants who are provided ample time to conduct the assessment or raise objections and submit the same to the conducting authority for rectification”, the spokesman said that the rectification is done after assessment of objections by a team of senior faculty members, who are not amongst paper setters of the concerned subject, and the revised/modified keys are uploaded thereafter.”
He said that the University of Kashmir, in case of SET (2017-18), “is not involved either directly or indirectly in setting the question papers or framing of keys”.
“Any deviations found in keys will be taken care of, while action under UGC norms will also be initiated against the concerned paper setters under UGC guidelines.”