The Department of Higher Education has left the responsibility in the hands of the universities. In this situation, the authorities of Rabindra Bharati University remained steadfast in their decision to take the upcoming semester examination offline. Jadavpur University authorities also said once again on Monday that they will not back down from the decision of offline exams in any way. Calcutta University will meet again on May 20 to take a decision on the issue, education sources said.
Kalyani and Vidyasagar University have changed the decision to take the exam offline in the face of pressure. That’s right, those two universities will take the exam online. But Rabindra Bharati’s vice-chancellor Sabyasachi Basu Roychowdhury said in a special meeting of the working committee on Monday, everyone unanimously agreed to the decision to conduct offline examinations in the interest of students. Prior to the meeting, the teachers’ association (RBUTA) of the university had informed the vice-chancellor that the teachers would withdraw from the examination if they took the test online.
Engineering department exams in Jadavpur are nearing completion. Science department exams are still going on. The examination of the art department has started from yesterday, Tuesday. Jadavpur Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das said, “The university exams are being and will be taken offline as per the decision of the board. The university is not taking any action that would jeopardize the interests of the students.”
Parthapratim Roy, general secretary of the Jadavpur Teachers’ Association (JUTA), said they would not be in the examination system if the exams were taken online. At the meeting of the working committee of the university, the guidelines regarding the examination system sent by the state government were discussed. Offline test decisions are upheld there.
Trina Mool Chhatra Parishad state president (TMCP) Trinankur Bhattacharya recently requested Education Minister Bratya Basu to take the exam online. The same request was made by the TMCP unit to the Vice Chancellors of different universities. The Trinamool college-university teachers’ union (WBCUPA) want the upcoming semester exams to be online. Like a section of the faculty, Kalyani and Vidyasagar University decided to take the exam offline first. But in the face of pressure, the pair later changed it. The entire Bangla Save Education Committee has sent a letter to the Kalyani and Vidyasagar University authorities on this day demanding an offline examination instead of an online one. Trinankur said, “Examinations are conducted in a familiar environment in Jadavpur and Rabindra Bharati University. Examinations are conducted in a familiar environment in the home centres of the colleges of Burdwan University. These three universities will definitely look into it so that the candidates can take the exam with confidence after overcoming the Corona situation.”
Debashish Sarkar, general secretary of the Government College Teachers’ Association, said there would be severe discrimination if examinations were conducted offline in some universities and online in others. Therefore, it is necessary for the Department of Higher Education to give instructions about the examination in the same manner.