Autonomous colleges push for offline exams, upset students protest
Many have taken to social media to garner support from fellow students and reach out to authorities at the university and state government to intervene in the matter
Mumbai: Days after the University of Mumbai (MU) announced dates of their summer 2022 examination and clarified that undergraduate (UG) final year exams (semester 6) will be held in the online mode, students of several autonomous institutes in the city have raised objection to their respective institutes insisting on offline/physical exams.
Many have taken to social media to garner support from fellow students and reach out to authorities at the university and state government to intervene in the matter.
The university on Friday, March 4, announced that the summer 2022 exams will commence from April 19 with TYBCom exams, followed by TYBA and TYBSc exams from April 21. While most postgraduate (PG) as well as some undergraduate exams will be held in offline mode this year, MU clarified that all third year UG (semester 6) exams will be held in online mode.
A member of the board of examinations, MU shared, “The final semester exams for UG students are very important and it is necessary to announce results in time as well. Covid-19 as well as transport strikes across some parts of Maharashtra left many students preparing for exams online, so it made sense to conduct exams in the online mode.”
Several autonomous institutes in the city, however, have already decided to hold all their upcoming exams in offline mode. This has sparked a debate amidst third year students, most demanding for a similar examination and assessment methodology for all.
“Those who appear for online exams will obviously end up scoring better while some of us, who are studying in autonomous institutes will appear for the exams offline. This will lead to disparity in final scores which will directly affect our future prospects,” said a final year student of Sophia College (Autonomous).
At present, MU boasts of 43 autonomous institutes and in the last one week, several students studying in various autonomous colleges including Narsee Monjee College, Mithibai, Jai Hind, Sophia and St Xavier’s have raised objections to offline exams. “The academic calendar has been delayed in the last two years due to Covid-19 and unlike online exams where results are immediately announced, offline exams will once again lead to delay until results are announced. Why should some of us have to wait for results while our fellow students from other colleges already have results in hand? All colleges need to work in tandem during exams,” said a student of Mithibai College, Vile Parle.
“As autonomous institutes, we get to conduct exams as per our schedule, and hold it accordingly. We have prepped out students for written exams for the past few weeks, so nothing will be a surprise. As for results, assessment has always been given utmost importance and teachers will ensure assessment is done in time to announce results at the earliest,” said the principal of a south Mumbai college, on condition of anonymity.
