Fourth-year engineering students of Jadavpur University have been on a sit-in on the campus for two days demanding that they be allowed to write the end-semester exams online.
The university has stuck to its position that the examination board’s decision to conduct the exams offline would not be reversed.
Some teachers, in an attempt to offer a middle path, suggested that open-book offline exams be held. But the students have not agreed to that, officials said.
In an open-book exam, students are allowed to consult books and class notes.
The students have also rejected the proposal of writing proctored online tests, the officials said.
In a proctored exam, the faculty monitors the examnees’ computers and webcam video and audio to ensure they do not consult books or online articles, or take help from others while writing the answers.
“The students are insisting on online exams without any form of invigilation,” said Partha Pratim Roy, general secretary of JU’s Teachers’ Association (Juta).
Repeated calls and text messages to Aritra Majumder, chairperson of the students’ union in engineering faculty, went unanswered.
The teachers met on Tuesday afternoon and resolved to stay away from the examination process if the examination board’s decision is reversed and the tests are held online.
“The examination board, a statutory body, has decided on holding the exams offline. I cannot reverse the decision approved by the board. On Tuesday, the teachers said they would stay away if the exams are held online,” vice-chancellor Suranjan Das said.
Fourth-year (final year) engineering students had said they were struggling to find accommodation in the city, without which they could not write the tests offline.
“Nobody is ready to sign a contract for a month (the period left before the exams),” a student said.
Before the campus was shut down in March 2020 following the outbreak of Covid, some of the students used to stay in hostels on the campus and others as paying guests.
The JU campus is not residential and all students cannot be accommodated in hostels.
VC Das said they had taken an initiative to address the accommodation problem.
A notice on JU website says the undergraduate students admitted in the 2019-20 season or before who want to stay in hostel have to submit a form by April 6.
“If required, we will accommodate the students at youth hostels run by the state government,” said JU registrar Snehamanju Basu.
