ICAI Student Reforms : Message from President

Dear Friends, from the last few months we have been consistently witnessing the errors and flaws in the ICAI evaluation procedure, ICAI question papers, and their marking system etc. Also, there were ongoing demands for correcting these flaws. Some of the eminent faculties come forward and take a bold step to send a strong message to the ICAI in this regard. So, finally, the President of ICAI CA Naveen N.D. Gupta sir himself appeared online and make an announcement towards the student fraternity. Here are the highlights of his message in details. He said that;

1. In elective papers, 40% MCQ based questions have been introduced to reduce the subjectivity. Today elective papers are open book exams and from Nov. 2018 exams students are also allowed to carry their own study material for reference during the exams.
2. They are continuously working on updating all the subjects' updated study material on a regular basis. 
3. The board will release the updated and rationalized study materials in Jan 2019.
4. There are misconceptions and doubts among the stakeholders regarding the results declared and for this purpose, Digital Evaluation (e-evaluation) has been introduced to improve the quality of evaluation of answer books.
5. Through e-evaluation continuous monitoring of examiners can be done including the fact that who is checking the answer, time taken in checking each answer and overall answer book which will help to assess the quality of checking of answer books. 
6. Their system of e-evaluation will keep on checking randomly whether the person who has been given the responsibility of checking the answer books are actually checking or not.
7. The e-evaluation was done on a pilot basis in last two examinations and now it has been extended to Ist group of Intermediate level from Nov. 2018 examination. 
8. Due to e-evaluation the student would be able to get their certificate copies within a substantially reduced time. 
9. The pilot project of Centralized Evaluation of one subject of Final level in Nov. 2018 exam is also under implementation. He clearly mentioned that in Centralized Evaluation the examiners would be checking the copies under the supervision of Head Examiner and Associate Head Examiner and based on the result of such pilot project the Centralized Evaluation system would be rolled out for remaining subjects as well. 
10. The Clause restricting sharing of Certified copies by students will be deleted and it has already been decided in September 2018 which means students can now show their answer books to anyone and there will be no restriction on them.
11. In a very good step, It has also been said that if in any answer step-wise marks are not awarded then such answers would be considered as Not Evaluated and step marks would be awarded during the course of re-verification. 
12. The Re-Evaluation of Answer books is a long-standing demand. But same will require the change in CA Act and for this ICAI is in direct interaction with University Grant Commission (UGC), Ministry of HRD, and MCA to draft Re-evaluation process of ICAI for onward approval of the central govt. and subsequent amendment in the act and regulation. 
13. The pilot project of live virtual classes for May 2019 and Nov 2019 examination was initiated on Aug 18 for inter and final exam with the participation of 500 students. 
14. Now, this Live virtual classes has been increased and fees for it has been reduced by further 50%.
15. Revamping of reading rooms facility provided by ICAI has also been initiated throughout India. 
16. Process for upgrading the infrastructure and Transforming the ITT labs into hi-tech labs across the nation has also been initiated. And for this, 4000+ new computers have been installed in ITT labs throughout India. 
17. Virtual ICAI has been created for the benefit of the students. Through this, students would be able to submit all kind of forms etc. and check their status online. the portal has been developed and will be launched shortly. 
18. Through Virtual ICAI Portal student would be able to change all his/her personal details like mobile no., e-mail id, address etc. After it will be fully operational, students would not need to go to any ICAI office for any purpose and everything will be available online on this portal. 
19. Student of IPCC old syllabus shall be given 2 more attempts above May 2019 exam to clear their exam in old syllabus. That is, now IPCC students of the old syllabus would be able to give their exams in old syllabus up to May 2020.
20. At last; they extend their best wishes for students bright future and great professional career.

So, this was the entire highlight of the message of ICAI president. But, We need to ask one more question to ICAI, Why there was no such reform discussed about the Articleship as well which has always been one of the most concerned topics for the students. Be it the timing of articleship, be it their stipend, be it their leaves issues etc. Students as an Article gets the stipend which is such that cannot cover even their travelling expenses. Also, the norms fixed for the minimum stipend is so minimum that it feels like Why even they are giving this much also.! Maybe because it was an attempt to ward off the expected hunger strike for which the preparation is already in full-blow among all the CA Faculties and students as well. 

Still, I really really appreciate ICAI active steps taken in this regard and addressing the students directly by the ICAI President himself. 

What do you think about these steps taken? What else do you want to change? What's your thoughts and opinions please do comment below. Also, share this article to all the students as well as the other stakeholder. 

The author can also be reached at Taxeffects.blogspot.com or niteshkbind@gmail.com.

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