Student unions aggressive over uniform conduct of semester exams

SPPU circular states that it will be conducting the exams in the traditional manner even as student organisations and unions have become aggressive over the issue

PUNE: A new circular issued by the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) amid the increasing clamour for conduct of the upcoming semester examination in a uniform manner has once again raised concerns amongst students and student organisations.

SPPU main building in Pune. SPPU circular states that it will be conducting the exams in the traditional manner even as student organisations and unions have become aggressive over the issue. (HT FILE)

The SPPU circular states that it will be conducting the exams in the traditional manner even as student organisations and unions have become aggressive over the issue. There is confusion among the students over the manner in which the exam will be conducted, due to which they are unable to prepare well for it.

Kalpesh Yadav, one of the petitioners who have raised the demand for uniform conduct of the examination said, “It is necessary to follow the instructions of the high court (HC) about conducting offline examinations. Three state universities are conducting it through the multiple choice question (MCQ) method while SPPU has issued a circular to conduct the exam in the traditional way. This will impact students from different universities as students taking the MCQ exam will score better marks than those taking the long answers’ exam. Also, the syllabus taught for this semester was mostly in online mode so the syllabus too should be reduced.”

On May 30, a Bombay HC bench of justices Milind Jadhav and Abhay Ahuja, while hearing the petition on ‘uniformity in conducting examinations across state universities and declaring results in a time-bound manner’ directed the higher education ministry to hold a meeting with the VCs of state universities and also to hear the petitioners’ side and submit its report to the state government.

Accordingly, the petitioners in this case - Yadav who is an activist and Blausha Bhasal – held a meeting with the state higher education director Dhanraj Mane on June 1 and also submitted an additional letter along with their petition to the department.

Similarly, the Yuvak Kranti Dal also demanded a uniform pattern of exams. Sachin Pandule, Pune division head of the organisation, said, “There will be a direct impact on job opportunities for final year students who will score better than other students in different universities. So our demand is to keep a similar pattern of exams across state universities as only then there will be no discrimination amongst students over the examination issue.”