• Delhi’s Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University has released a notice to take exams of intermediate semester LL.B students. The students are supposed to appear in the examination that is going to be conducted in offline mode From 27th of October. At the times when the cases are rising university’s move is totally unjustified from the student’s point of view.

The petrifying and severe impact of COVID-19 has shaken the world to its core. Further, most of the governments around the world have temporarily closed educational institutions in an attempt to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. In India too, the government as a part of the nationwide lockdown has closed all educational institutions, as a consequence of which, learners ranging from school going children to postgraduate students, are affected. It’s been almost four months since India’s national lockdown sent student lives into limbo. At universities across India, students are battling varying guidelines, changing exam dates and the whims of authorities as they prepare for their final year exams. All at a time when colleges have struggled to conduct classes online, share study material and well, teach. An online survey on college student; sentiments about conducting examinations amid the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn over 5,000 respondents in a single day, with 72.2% of the students backing results on the basis of the average of internal exams of current and previous semesters. As many as 87.1% of the students said they are not in the mindset to appear for physical or online exams even if the government relaxes the lockdown. While 93.5% did not want to be conducted during the pandemic, 92.9% said their parents will not send them to exam centres.

“There is a lot of uncertainty among students on how to face the situation. They are facing a situation of panic and are stressed because there are no clear-cut instructions from the university or government. Of those surveyed , 15.1% are third –year or final –year undergraduate students who have applied for admission to foreign universities. As many as 58% said their end semester mark sheet will affect admissions to these universitie, while 62.2% said it would affect their job prospects.

A lot of students had left for their hometowns before the nationwide lockdown was announced. Candidates from far-flung areas will face difficulties in coming back to colleges or universities. Hostel accommodation will be risky due to covid-19 restrictions. Students, especially those from economically weaker sections,  might face difficulties in making these arrangements. Besides, students might be asked to quarantine; that will be another challenge.

With classes, libraries and study centres closed, people have no recourse but to study at home, which is not always conducive to productivity. Like some students who live in remote areas or areas where connections are bad can face great difficulty in completing their exams .on time or even appearing in it. This can affect their grades and performance. Online examination process security is one of the critical challenges. Proper authentication, authorization process should be followed to ensure that the right candidate is appearing for the exam in a secure environment without any malpractices. Timely examinations can be bad. If any circumstance online examinations then they should give enough time to the students for the completion. Time should be set according to the level of questions. And for physical exams it will be hard for students to maintain social distance at all the times. Also students who would be suffering from general cold and cough will suffer as they won’t be allowed inside the examination centres. This can take a toll on their careers. This situation isn’t favourable for any kind of gathering and giving exams is going to violate that. Exam cancellation is of utmost importance for our safety. I only hope for some consideration regarding the same from the university.

It is noteworthy that the university doesn’t allow to make any kind of student unions and in these situations, students do not even have proper leadership to put forth their views with solidarity. Although students have seen taking the help of social media platforms like twitter and hashtags like

#IPUAGINSTSTUDENTS #IPUCHALEGACORONABADHEGA is fetching attention on twitter.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *