E-Paper
Students of Central University of Kashmir want semester exams to be postponed
Alleging that the varsity officials are not even following Covid-19 protocols while calling them to campus for semester exams, the students said that this is putting their lives, and that of their families, at risk.
In view of the rapidly increasing Covid-19 infections, students of the Central University of Kashmir are demanding that their ongoing examinations should either be postponed or shifted online.
Alleging that the varsity officials are not even following Covid-19 protocols while calling them to campus for semester exams, the students said that this is putting their lives, and that of their families, at risk.
They added that four students –two of the law department and two of the tourism department – and some faculty members have already tested positive for Covid-19 but the authorities don’t seem to care.
“Every other university is conducting online exams. Only Central University of Kashmir is forcing its students to come to campus for exams. Jammu Central University has also postponed the exams even though Jammu has fewer cases than Kashmir,” said a student of the M.Tech department. He added, “The varsity doesn’t seem to care that students may get infected. All students are seated in the same class and we suspect that some Covid-positive student may also be appearing for the exams.”
A law student said that despite two students from their department testing positive, the varsity authorities did not follow standard operating procedures. “There is neither proper screening nor sanitisation in the university. Even when there were positive cases, no sanitisation was done in the department,” she said.
‘When we protested, they threatened us’
Students said they had staged a protest on the campus on April 15, demanding the exams to be postponed. “But the teachers threatened us that we will face a backlog and we will be failed,” said a student. “The officials don’t care about the lives of students, nor do they care about the lives of the students’ families. What they want is to claim credit in front of NEET officials that they conducted exams amid the pandemic,” she said.
Don’t have foolproof mechanism for online exam: V-C
Vice-chancellor (V-C) Mehraj Uddin Mir acknowledged the risk in conducting the exams amid Covid-19 but said the varsity is following all protocols. He said he had taken on board all class representatives before conducting the exams. “There is a risk and I have taken this risk after taking some precautions. I am monitoring the situation closely and in case I feel it is going to create an issue, I will postpone the exams immediately,” said Mir.
He added that proper distancing and sanitisation was being done while conducting exams.
“When four of our students and some faculty members tested positive, we followed proper norms, and sent them into isolation and suspended class work,” he said.
When asked why the varsity was not switching to online examination, the V-C said, “We don’t have a fool proof mechanism for online examinations. Our teaching-learning has not been tailored to online examination. That is why we conduct exams in small groups,” he said.
