University of Mumbai online exams begin at few colleges, others to start exams next week

Even as the status of the final-year (summer 2020) online exam lies in limbo across several state universities, the University of Mumbai (MU) on Thursday announced

Even as the status of the final-year (summer 2020) online exam lies in limbo across several state universities, the University of Mumbai (MU) on Thursday announced the successful commencement of online exams in some of its affiliated colleges. Most city colleges, however, have decided to start their exams from October 5.

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While exams at five state universities has been indefinitely deferred due to an ongoing pen-down strike of non-teaching staff members, MU said their decision to decentralise online exams helped ensure the schedule stays as is.

“Since all colleges have been divided under different clusters, these clusters have been given the choice of conducting exams as per their schedule as long as the same is conducted between October 1 and 31 and that it is conducted online in multiple choice question (MCQ) format,” said a statement released by MU on Thursday evening. It further added that the varsity has appointed an exam monitoring committee to coordinate with all lead colleges in every cluster and get regular feedback from them.

“Today MU vice-chancellor Suhas Pednekar had a virtual discussion with thousands of students to find out the problems they are facing. Helpline numbers are functional and students have been assured that they will face no problem with online exams,” added the MU statement.

HT had previously reported that less than 48 hours before the online exam was scheduled to begin, authorities at the Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University released a statement confirming that their exams have been deferred indefinitely due to a pen-down strike called by all non-teaching staff demanding the immediate implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission wages.

Late on Tuesday evening, authorities of universities in Jalgaon, Aurangabad and Amravati also released a similar statement announcing their decision to defer exams that were scheduled to begin on October 1 at all four universities. Nanded University released a similar statement on Wednesday morning deferring their exams as well. In separate circulars released by the examination departments of the respective universities, the spokespersons highlighted that new dates for exams are yet to be finalised.