Student groups demand new exam software provider for re-exam of University of Mumbai’s distance learning wing

A day after the distance education wing of the University of Mumbai (MU), Institute of Distance and Open Learning (IDOL), deferred all examinations by 10 days, several

A day after the distance education wing of the University of Mumbai (MU), Institute of Distance and Open Learning (IDOL), deferred all examinations by 10 days, several student groups have sought immediate termination of contract with the exam software provider hired by the varsity.

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“We had filed a petition in September asking the university to take time and conduct mock tests before starting exams. The university has not paid attention to any concerns raised by students,” said Dilip Ranadive from Ambedkar Students Association (ASA). He added that the association also wrote to the MU vice-chancellor Suhas Pednekar, who then assured of smooth conduct of examinations.

While the university is still unclear on what is causing the “technical glitches”, members of the Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS) demanded that the university terminate services of the software company, LittleMORE Innovation Labs.

“All exams should be cancelled till the software company is cleared to be able to conduct exams for students in large numbers. Students don’t need more anxiety than they are already facing,” said Santosh Gangurde, state vice-president of MNVS.

This announcement for postponement of all exams until October 19 came a day after close to 9,000 third-year BCom and third-year BA students could not attempt their paper on Tuesday due to “technical glitches”. Many students complained of not being able to log on to the link on the examination application. In a statement on Tuesday, the university blamed the errors on a cyberattack on the examination software.

While the new timetable is yet to be released, students are also worried about the status of re-examination, especially those who already appeared for one paper on October 3. “Nearly 50% of third-year BCom and BA students had managed to appear for the first exam on October 3, and the university has planned re-exam for those who missed the paper. But now we are not sure if we too have to appear for the paper again,” said Ankush Kumar, a student.