Calcutta: A group of students protested before the Calcutta University's College Street campus on Friday and demanded online tests a day after the university-appointed panels recommended conducting UG and PG semester exams offline. The demonstrations went on for two hours while holding placards that listed their demands, around 100 students, shouted slogans after assembling before the Asutosh Building.
"No offline classes had taken place in the past two years. There were only online classes due to which our syllabus could not be completed. If the authorities force us two write our papers offline, how can we score well in the examinations? We demand at least this time we are allowed to give online tests," Sougata Majumdar, a post-graduate student, said.
A violent protest and `gherao' by a section of Rabindra Bharati University students were held against the decision to hold offline examinations. The authorities, however, refused to bow down to their demands and insisted the students would have to write their papers offline.
Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) state President Trinankur Bhattacharya said that
"a section of students have taken part in the demonstrations but TMCP is not involved."
"In many higher educational institutions, offline classes could not be held for a greater part of 2020-21. In some places, the percentage of offline classes was 20 percent, and in some, 30 percent. We had left it for the respective heads of institutions to take individual decisions considering all factors," Bhattacharya said when asked about the stand of TMCP on the issue.
The chairpersons of the undergraduate boards of studies and members of the PG faculty councils separately recommended favor of offline tests at the undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) levels, said the CU Vice-Chancellor Sonali Chakrabarty Banerjee said in a statement on Friday. A meeting is still to be held separately with Principals of the affiliated colleges on May 27, for their views on the mode of examinations. All these views and recommendations will be placed before the Syndicate on June 3 for final consideration, she had said.
