Date:22/07/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/07/22/stories/2005072202520300.htm

Karnataka - Belgaum

Did Lankesh write Taledanda?

Staff Correspondent

Teachers' recruitment test: website shows several wrong answers

BELGAUM: Who wrote the famous Kannada play "Taledanda?"

That is a question in the Kannada question paper-II of the Centralised Admission Cell, which recently conducted the High School Teachers' Recruitment tests for 2005-06.

If a candidate marks "Girish Karnad" in the answer box, he or she will be proved wrong. Because, the official website of the cell displays "Lankesh" as the correct answer.

A candidate, who displayed both the copies of question paper and printed copy of the "Key answers" as available on the website, to The Hindu , criticised the state of affairs with the Cell, which is testing the general knowledge and mental ability of prospective teachers.

The answers for all the objective type questions are displayed on the website for verification. The question papers are separate for different students and carry separate booklet numbers and answers as well. Had the answers not been displayed on the website, there would not have been any chance for the candidates to know that even the correct answers would be treated as wrong. An official in the Admission Cell in Bangalore, on the condition of anonymity, said "eminent academicians" and people who held doctorates prepared the questions and answers and that they cannot commit such mistakes.

Such incorrect answers have been provided to questions not only in Kannada paper but also in Social Science and General Knowledge/Mental Ability.

The question number 19 in GK/Mental Ability paper is about the location of "Reuters" news agency. The correct answer should be the United Kingdom, but the Cell's website shows "United States" (Option 2) as the correct answer.

Sources said candidates have been given time to challenge incorrect answers. Many candidates have approached the Cell challenging the wrong answers.