Due to students’ demands, the Maharashtra Higher and Technical Education department agreed to the reopening of colleges. Department had allowed the reopening of physical colleges by February 15th. Students have now come up with a fresh demand — to conduct end semester examinations in online mode.
Citing reasons like COVID pandemic, infection scare, travel issues, and problems in studying due to online lectures, students have stormed social networking sites demanding virtual exams.
Vaibhav Edke, a student representative leading the social media campaign, shared, “So far the classes are being conducted online. And the students were mentally prepared to give online exams as they did for the first semester. Also since only 50 percent of students can attend classes, there will be inequities in education delivery. It’s not fair to ask students to write lengthy pen and paper exams. And hence they are demanding that online MCQ exams be conducted, ” he said.
Meanwhile, Mahesh Kakade, director of examinations and evaluation, at Savitribai Phule Pune University said that there is no decision taken yet on the mode of examinations.
“On Wednesday evening the state higher education department issued a government resolution. Universities should decide by themselves what should be the mode of examinations. We have a Board of examinations meeting scheduled in the next couple of days. And it will be decided there. As of now, there is no decision,” said Kakade.
On Wednesday, Uday Samant, minister for Higher and technical education, announced that colleges and universities could resume classes by 15 February. But with only 50 percent class strength on a rotational basis. The decision comes in the backdrop of a meeting that Samant had held with vice-chancellors of various universities in the state earlier this week.
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