End-semester exam hours altered after Bengal govt’s limited Net ban on Madhyamik days

The Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, and the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology have rescheduled the timing of the end semester examinations to evening hours in view of a notification by the Bengal government temporarily suspending internet services on the days of Class 10 state board examination in some areas of the state.

Dr Subhasis Dutta, controller of examinations, MAKAUT, said in view of the possibility of non-availability of internet services in some areas of the state during the Madhyamik examination hours and opinions received from the stakeholders in this regard, all end semester exams of the first semester have been rescheduled to the 4:30pm - 6pm slot in the interest of the students.

IIEST deputy registrar Nirmalya Bhattacharya said in a notice, the 4th, 6th, 8th semester undergraduate exams will now be held from 5:15pm, 6:30pm and 4pm respectively.

The earlier timing was from 11:30am, 2:30pm and 4pm respectively.

In an unprecedented step, the Bengal government decided to temporarily suspend internet services on the days of Class 10 state board examination starting from Monday in some areas of the state to stop cheating.

The move was necessitated in the wake of reports of purported leak of question papers via social media platforms from some exam centres in several districts, including Malda and Murshidabad, within an hour of commencement of exams in 2019 and 2020, an official of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) had said.

The WBBSE conducts the examination which was not held last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Intelligence reports have been received that internet transmission and voice over internet telephony may be used for unlawful activities in certain areas over the next few days, the notification said.

As assessment of the inputs gives reason to believe that such unlawful activities are likely to occur in the absence of preventive measures, it said.