Jadavpur University has promised to organise accommodation for fourth-year students so they can write their final exams offline but only a few students have taken the offer.
The students are still keen to write the exams online.
The university has extended the deadline for sending applications for hostel accommodation till April 10 so that more students can apply. The earlier deadline was April 6.
“The last date for submission of filled-in hostel boardership application form has been extended to 10th April for undergraduate students admitted in the 2019-20 season or before,” said a notice signed by the dean of students, Rajat Roy.
Only a handful of students from the fourth-year BTech programme have applied for accommodation. The students are demanding they be allowed to write their exams online because of an accommodation crisis.
A JU official said the university could accommodate around 80 students at its hostels so they can write the end-semester exams in-person in late-April.
“If required, more accommodation can be arranged in the youth hostel run by the state government. Lodging arrangements can be made in the PG hostels, too,” said JU registrar Snehamanju Basu.
The accommodation issue arose last month after the fourth-year BTech students — the last non-domiciled batch — said they were struggling to find hostels to write in-person exams.
Many outstation students who used to stay in PG accommodations before the pandemic said they were finding it difficult to find hostels for such a short duration, till the exams are over.
“The accommodation issue cropped up in mid-March after the university’s examination board resolved that the BTech final-year end-semester exams would be held offline next month, like the exams in other faculties, for fair evaluation. While the teachers have stood firm in their resolve to hold the exams offline, the university is doing its best to ensure free accommodation,” said Partha Pratim Roy, general secretary of the JU teachers’ association.
Offline exams mean candidates have to come to campus, said a JU official.
On March 30, the teachers met and resolved that if exams were held online in contravention of what was decided at the examination and board of studies meeting, they would abstain from the process.
“The examination board, which is a statutory body, has decided on holding the exams offline. I cannot reverse the decision approved by the board. The teachers said they would stay away if the exams were held online,” vice-chancellor Suranjan Das had told Metro last week.
The extension of the deadline for students to apply for accommodation suggests that the university is ready to go the extra mile to hold offline exams, the JU official said.
The teachers said they were seeking a uniform exam pattern across faculties because the university had made the shift from online to offline classes following a dip in Covid cases and suspension of pandemic-induced restrictions.
