After technical glitches, 84% Mumbai university’s IDOL students appear for re-examination on Monday

The rescheduled exams for regular students of the distance education wing of University of Mumbai (MU) commenced on Monday. Of the10,000 third year Bachelor in Arts

The rescheduled exams for regular students of the distance education wing of University of Mumbai (MU) commenced on Monday. Of the10,000 third year Bachelor in Arts (BA) and Bachelor in Commerce (BCom) students of the Institute of Distance and Open Learning (IDOL) registered to appear for their final year (summer 2020) exams, 84.07% students appeared for the first exam on Monday.

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“The university has taken all precautions to ensure students are not affected anymore. Over 8,000 students appeared for six rounds of mock tests earlier in the last few days and were prepared for the online exam,” said a statement released by IDOL late on Sunday. It further stated that those students who had managed to successfully appear for and complete their exams held on October 3 and 6 in the previous session will not have to compulsorily appear for the exam in the current session.

The exams had to be rescheduled after the first session in the first week of October was marred by technical glitches. Around 9,000 third-year Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) and Bachelor of Arts (BA) students were unable to appear for the tests online.

While the rescheduled backlog exams were held on Google forms on October 19, 20 and 21, the exams are now being conducted by a new service provider hired by the university last week.

The contract with the original exam service provider, LittleMORE Innovation Labs, was cancelled after the incident. The university approved a new service provider, Pune-based Splashgain Technology Solutions last week to henceforth conduct the online exams.

In a press conference held virtually last week, state minister for higher and technical education Uday Samant stated that all instances of university students not being able to appear for their online exams in the month of October due to technical glitches will be investigated by a special fact-finding committee. This also includes the incident of the first week of October which left thousands of students from IDOL anxious and unable to appear for their final year exams left students more stressed.

The second-year Master of Arts (MA) exam will commence from November 2, while the Master of Commerce (MCom) exams will start on November 6.