Indore: DAVV extends exam dates as corona cases increase

Indore

Citing an increasing number of Covid-19 cases, Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV) on Wednesday extended offline exams scheduled from April 1 by six days even as protests by NSUI activists continued for open book exams in online mode.

Agar-Malwa MLA Vipin Wankhede and Congress city president Vinay Bakliwal reached the university in support of NSUI activists and sought to know why the university was not changing the format of exams from offline to online despite the increasing number of coronavirus infection cases.

The university authorities explained their position but protestors did not buy the explanation and continued their stir breaching Covid-19 protocol.

There was a heavy police presence on the campus to deal with any untoward situation.

Youth Congress leader Javed Khan, who is on hunger strike since Tuesday for the demand for online open-book exams, said that he won’t give up his strike until the authorities budge.

The demand for offline exams due to the Covid-19 situation is growing but the State government is not budging despite the fact that Covid-19 cases are on the rise across the state.

Undergraduate second and final year exams are scheduled from April 1. Around 1.20 lakh students are going to take the exams which as per government’s orders are to be held in offline mode.

The order was given in January when Covid-19 cases had come down significantly. In the last fortnight, the situation changed and cases started increasing again promoting students leaders to demand open book online exams.

Recently, higher education minister Mohan Yadav stated that it had left the decision on district-level crisis management committee. The committee in consultation with the university will decide whether exams should be held in online or offline mode.

As authorities are yet to decide on the mode of exams, protests by student leaders are intensifying.

While Javed’s hunger strike entered its third day, nearly 80 students led by NSUI leader Vikas Nandwana went to the RNT Marg campus of DAVV and shouted slogans against the university authorities.

Wankhede and Bakliwal were told by vice-chancellor Prof Renu Jain that the right to decide the format of exams lies with the state government. “What is in our hand is dates of exams which we are changing in view of growing cases of Covid-19,” she said.

She also told the duo leaders that the university had forwarded the demand by student leaders for open-book online exams to the department of higher education and are waiting for the reply.

BOX// Exams from April 7 now

Exam controller Ashesh Tiwari stated that the exams, which were scheduled for April 1, will now start on April 7. He stated that the university is not revising time table for all papers. The paper scheduled for April 7 will be held on the given date. “The papers scheduled before April 7 (that is papers from April 1 to April 6) stand cancelled. Separate dates will be declared for the cancelled papers. The rest of the papers will be held on the prescribed dates,” he explained.