Students dismayed over CU’s decision to hold exams amid corona pandemic

The 6th-semester students of Cluster University, Srinagar (CUS) on Friday expressed anguish over the varsity’s decision to conduct examination amid the COVID19 lockdown.

Recently, the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the University, after a meeting with Principals of the constituent Colleges decided to hold exams for outgoing undergraduate 6th semester students in accordance with the UGC guidelines.

   

As per the decision, the students will have to appear in MCQ type exam likely to commence from second week of July.

However, the UG students of 2nd and 4th semester and students of five-year integrated courses in will be promoted on the basis of internal assessment.

The varsity has faced stiff opposition from the students for its decision to hold exams of 6th semester students. They accused the authorities of taking “illogical decisions” amid the scary situation that has arisen due to the spike in COVID19 cases in the Valley.

“The University is putting us at risk by announcing to conduct the exams,” said a student.

He said the government has set up quarantine centre in one of Colleges due to which parents of many students were not willing to send them to the Colleges for appearing in the exams.

“Some students are not able to pay exam fee due to the financial crunch. Their parents run small business units which are closed for the past several months,” said another student.

The students said they could attend 6th semester classes only for 10 days before the educational institutions were closed due to the pandemic.

“The University claims holding online classes but the class work has been badly hit owing to the slow speed internet. It is complete injustice with us to hold exams. The University should evaluate us on the internal assessment basis like students of other semesters,” said the student.

On Thursday, the Cluster University, in a public notification, asked the 6th semester students to attend the Google classes arranged by the respective Colleges for various subjects.

“Those who fail to appear in Google classes may not be able to appear in the final end term examination due to the lack of attendance marks and internal assessment marks,” reads the notification. Vice Chancellor (VC) Cluster University, Dr Sheikh Javaid said they will examine the demand of students and “provide some relaxation to them in the exams.”

“As per the UGC guidelines, they have to appear in the exams, but we will give them some relaxation. We have scheduled a meeting in this regard next week,” he said.

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