18-year-old Adnan Gilkar committed suicide on learning he had failed the allied physics examination
Five months after an engineering student in Jammu and Kashmir committed suicide, the state government has finally decided to initiate action against the officials of the state technical board who had erringly failed the student in semester examinations.
The re-evaluation of 18-year-old Adnan Gilkar's papers showed that the electronics engineering student has topped his class with 70 per cent marks.
"We have recommended termination of the services of Mushtaq Ahmad Tiploo, senior lecturer who was the evaluator. He should be considered as dead wood - he is no longer in the department. I have also shifted my secretary and deputy secretary," said Imran Raza Ansari, Minister for Technical Education.
The action was initiated after a preliminary probe established culpability of the evaluator who failed Adnan Gilkar in Allied Physics with just 28 marks. The re-evaluation revealed that the student had actually got 48 marks in the subject, which raised his overall result to 70 per cent.
Adnan's family, who have been waiting for justice, welcome the decision but want an overhaul of examination process so that no other student meets a similar fate.
"There should be accountability in education department. There should be clear laws for evaluation - how to frame quotation papers and what should be guidelines for evaluators," said Adnan's father Hilal Ahmad Gilkar.
The family and his classmates say Adnan could not bear the humiliation of failing and jumped into Jhelum River hours after results were declared on June 18. The technical education ministry says it will also share the findings of its investigation with the police who have registered a case after Adnan's suicide.
"I believe the family of the student has already filed a complaint with the police. We will give all the papers and findings to police if they ask for it. We will furnish all papers," said Mr Ansari.