By Vishu Adhana

New Delhi [India], August 13 (ANI): Scores of students from Delhi University's 2025 batch have been marked 'Absent' or as 'Essential Repeat' (ER) in one or more subjects in their final mark sheets, a situation many say is impacting their plans for jobs and higher studies.

While students allege negligence in result processing, colleges and the university administration maintain that the discrepancies are due to technical glitches and are being rectified on a priority basis.

Several students told ANI that they have been wrongly marked absent in theory papers despite appearing for exams, or flagged as ER due to missing internal assessment marks.

Many say that repeated complaints to the university have gone unanswered.

Arpit Pathak, who was pursuing BCom from Aryabhatta College, said his results for the first four semesters were revised to 'pass' earlier, but in the final marksheet, he was again marked ER in his Hindi paper (3rd semester). Essential Repeat means the student must reappear for the exam in that subject.

'I reached out to my college and the university, submitted all documents, but the final marksheet still shows ER. This is a mistake on their part. I had to drop this year and cannot apply for my MBA in Mumbai. This has completely derailed my plans and caused a lot of stress,' Pathak said.

While no official figure on the number of affected students was provided by the university, officials said the process of verification and correction is underway.

Another student from Ramanujan College, pursuing a BA Programme, said she was marked ER in two subjects of the fifth semester -- Introductory Development Economics and Economy, State and Society. In one paper, her internal marks were missing, while in the other, she was marked absent in the theory exam despite appearing for it.

'I have written to both the college and the university. Because my marksheet shows ER, I cannot apply for my master's or even for jobs. No employer will consider me without a complete result,' she said on condition of anonymity.

'There are hundreds of students in the university like me who are facing this issue. In my course, there are over 7 and 8 students I know who have faced this issue,' the 21-year-old added.

Ramanujan College Principal Rasal Singh admitted that nearly 100 students from the college have been marked ER due to missing internal assessment marks.

'There are discrepancies in results that students are facing, and this is the largest such issue the colleges have encountered. We have already approached the university and are providing them with the necessary supporting documents to rectify the mark sheets,' Singh told ANI.

When asked about students marked absent in theory despite appearing, Singh said, 'We are examining all such cases and providing the required proof. We do not want a student to lose an academic year, so we are ready to assist them in every possible way.'

Aryabhatta College Principal Manoj Singh, who is also chairman of the DU Principals' Association, said many colleges are facing this issue due to a technical issue after shifting to the Samarth portal for result processing.

'The system is good and maintains the sanctity of evaluation and merit, but adapting to it takes time. Uploading marks and data has encountered technical issues, and in some instances, we are manually collating and uploading data to the portal for university evaluation. The process is cumbersome, but we are in constant discussion with the exam department to ensure rectification at the earliest,' he said.

Controller of Examinations Dr. Gurpreet Tuteja said the university has sought data from colleges to address cases where internal marks are missing or discrepancies have been reported.

'We have communicated with the colleges to provide us with the data so that the marksheets can be rectified. We are working on it. We don't want any student to suffer,' Tuteja told ANI.

Khushi Bhatia, a Ramanujan College student, said she had planned to appear for the government exam this year but was unable to do so because her mark sheet shows ER in two subjects.

'I will now have to wait another year and work in the meantime. This has set me back significantly,' she said. (ANI)