Colleges yet to receive guidelines on exams, summer vacations

College students in the city, whose semester schedules have been disrupted by the ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), said

College students in the city, whose semester schedules have been disrupted by the ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), said that they were uncertain about the future course of action with little clarity over exams and results. Students said that they were worried about missing summer internships and placements and were hoping that the situation is resolved soon.

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The University Grants Commission (UGC) recently issued guidelines for examinations and the academic calendar, and suggested that colleges may adopt the calendar or modify it as per their needs. The state higher education department, however, is yet to issue any direction on the subject. College principals said that they had not received any specific directive from the higher education department on exams, assessments, and in the absence of any guidelines, remote classes would take place until the end of the lockdown.

Pooja Khullar, principal, Dronacharya Government College, said that colleges were awaiting directions from the department and until then, online classes were taking place. “We have been informed that we will get an update soon. We will apprise students as and when we get clarity from the administration but until then, we can only wait and watch,” Khullar said.

She added that teachers had been receiving many queries from worried students. “We have been receiving a lot of queries from students. Students in the final year, especially, tend to get worried as many of them plan to pursue higher education,” Khullar said.

Satyamanyu Yadav, principal of Government College in Sector 9, said that though the UGC had issued guidelines, the state government was yet to issue the guidelines that were to be adopted. He said that online classes would continue routinely till May 17 until there is clarity on the lockdown. Yadav said that the resumption of physical activities in the college might take a long while since it had been turned into a quarantine facility. “We are trying to utilise online resources wherever possible. While placement couldn’t take place on campus, we have tied up with a tech company for online courses which will help students in placements in the future,” Yadav said.

Deepakshi Antil, a 20-year-old student of the Government Girls College in Sector 14, said that while there was no clarity on the final exams, classes were continuing remotely. “Class notes and assignments are shared with us. We also took an online internal assessment exam comprising multiple-choice questions,” Antil, a final-year student of History honours, said. She added that students were stressed since placement prospects looked bleak and there was little they could do in the absence of a clear schedule.

“A job fair that was supposed to take place at our college was cancelled due to the lockdown. Right now, we cannot initiate anything new on the job front. We don’t even know when and how the exams will take place. Ambiguity prevails over the final exams and results too,” she said.

Deepak Swamy, a final-year English honours student of Dronacharya Government College, said that many universities had already started seeking applications while exams were yet to start. “Some universities have already given out forms. With the current state of affairs, some of us are unsure if we should apply or wait until the situation improves,” Swamy said.