VC PENS REGISTRAR ON D+ By Silvester Ayuba James As the controversy regarding the fate of students with a D+ lives on at Chanco, the office of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Malawi has written the college Registrar calling for records on the parameters of the Grade Point Average (GPA) system as earlier introduced. The summon comes in the wake of a petition by some students affected by the new rule that requires all students with a 49% (D+) pass to take a supplementary exam instead of proceeding to the next level on a benefit of doubt as it earlier was. A group of students, apparently destined for a supplementary exam, wrote the Vice Chancellor asking for an intervention on the matter arguing that the new rule is unfair. Storm did not see the petition, but it is understood that it was delivered last week. However, a senior administration official disclosed yesterday that the argument by the affected students will be dismissed in its entirety by the VC because it lacks basis and it is ill-timed. Morally, the argument is questionable because the memo indicating the new D+ rule was circulated last semester but they waited until they failed before they could protest. This shows personal interest rather than love for justice, said our undisclosed source. But, asked why the Vice Chancellor was calling for records now if he was going to dismiss the petition, the official said the VC just wanted to give his stance a legal backing by invoking written records. What those students forget is that there was no written rule that a D+ would mean a pass enough for proceeding; it was just orally put in order to give students a bonus as we implemented the new system. The complete GPA system considers that grade a failure to proceed forward and demands a supplementary exam. Now that we want to implement the system fully and the bonus time is over, there is no basis for one to argue otherwise. These students have a very weak case, said our source. The source further stressed that the Vice Chancellor simply wanted to prove to the petitioners that there was no written statement to commit that D+ would always be a pass in the system thereby challenging them legally. Supplementary exams are due this week but the Vice Chancellor is yet to respond to the petition. The last academic year has seen Chanco hitting the worst records in terms of exam failure rate, prompting some students to blame the situation on the GPA system, which was implemented against the rough background of scanty learning resources including essential books.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 08:44:40 +0000
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