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Concerned over safety, dental students in Punjab urge BFUHS to postpone exams
Amid coronavirus scare, the BDS and MDS students in 15 dental colleges of Punjab are demanding postponement of exams in view of the current situation.
Amid coronavirus scare, the BDS and MDS students in 15 dental colleges of Punjab are demanding postponement of exams in view of the current situation.
Examinations for the dental courses in the state are scheduled to begin from July 7. However, the students claim that holding physical examination would not be safe as many students have to travel from other states and stay at hostels.
Dental courses students took to social media to protest against the medical varsity to conduct semester examinations in July amid increasing number of covid-19 cases.
“We demand postponement of exams of all years because students and their parents were not consulted before releasing date sheet. Our books were left in hostels and we didn’t get much time for preparation. The government can’t use us as their test kits,” tweeted a student.
The students demanded that exams for first year and intermediate classes should not be conducted this year just like many other educational institutions and they should be promoted on the basis of other criteria or university should hold online exams. While for final year they have urged to postpone the examination until situation gets better.
“Community spread of coronavirus is here and BFUHS is going to hold exams in July. Exams should be postpone as many students are at their homes in different parts of the state and many are in other states, said a dental student, Kanik Singh asking who will be responsible for our lives, if someone gets infected during travel or during exams and How, can social distancing be effectively maintained in hostels, libraries and hostel messes?
Dr Rajbahadur, vice-chancellor, BFUHS, said the university has not issued any directions to the dental colleges to get an affidavit from students, however, the students from other states have quarantine on their return as per central policy.
Dr Abi M Thomas, principal of Christian Dental College, Ludhiana, in a letter to the BFUHS stated that BDS theory examinations are difficult to conduct as candidates require 14 days quarantine on arrival and they require a separate place for this, this is difficult for most of the institutions. “Therefore, to have theory examination on regular pattern is difficult. In this context 70% marks can be given based on theory internal assessment and the rest 30% based on theory viva by an internal and external examiner through online video conferencing,” he suggested, which was not considered by the medical university.
