Mumbai university exam mess: Punish those who skip assessment, teachers tell varsity

Close to 2,000 teachers are yet to report for assessment duty

Assessment of over a 100,000 answer booklets at the University of Mumbai (MU) is still pending and while over 9,000 teachers have been checking the papers, close to 2,000 teachers are yet to report for assessment duty.

After having to share their burden, many teachers have now demanded that the university take action against those who have not participated in the exam assessment process this semester. (HT File)

After having to share their burden, many teachers have now demanded that the university take action against those who have not participated in the exam assessment process this semester.

“It is unfair that we should cover up for those who are not completing work assigned to them. Each teacher is responsible for assessment and the fact that thousands of teachers are yet to report for duty is the reason behind this delay in results,” said one of the teachers. A meeting of teachers from the Bachelors in Mass Media (BMM) department was held at the university on Monday, and most subject heads have demanded strict action against teachers skipping assessment duty despite being eligible for it.

MU acting vice chancellor, Devanand Shinde, had previously highlighted how penalising teachers who don’t report for assessment duty will not be possible. “Most of the teachers who are yet to register for assessment are visiting faculty and these teachers keep moving from one college to another, so it’s difficult to tap them all,” Shinde said.

However, with other permanent teachers now having to share the burden of pending assessment, teachers are hoping for some action against defaulters. “At the time of appointment of all visiting faculty members, colleges give it in writing that they need to report for assessment so no one can use the excuse of being a visiting faculty to avoid their responsibilities,” said another teacher.

At present, the university has announced over 179 results, and officials said that results of Bachelors in Arts (BA), Bachelors in Commerce (BCom) and Bachelors in Science (BSc) should be released by the end of this week. Answer booklets pending for assessment are mostly from the unaided courses including BMM, Bachelors in Management Studies and Bachelors in Accounting and Finance.

“Teachers have asked for action against defaulters but the final decision will be taken by the Board of Studies (BoS). As of now, we are hoping to clear all pending answer booklets at the earliest,” said Vinod Malale, PRO, University of Mumbai.