A section of students of SN Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, a central academic institution, has written to the state higher education department alleging that the institute is forcing them to write the end semester examination offline from January 17 amid the pandemic.
Students who are pursuing the integrated PHd programmes have approached the department because the state government has shut the campuses from January 3 and asked the institutes to suspend all on-campus academic activities till further order.
Some of the students at the Salt Lake institute said they “are scared”.
A student of the residential campus, who went home for Christmas, said she was unable to move as the residence has been brought under the micro containment zone and family members have tested positive.
“We tried to reason with the authorities that we will write the test on the campus once the situation stabilizes. But they are insisting that we return to the campus immediately and isolate ourselves for an adequate number of days and then write the exam. Left with no choice, students had to approach the department,” said the student.
Integrated PhD is a combination of MSC and PHd programme spanning over seven years.
The science graduates are required to crack Joint Entrance Screening Test (JEST), a national-level exam, which is jointly conducted by top institutes of the country, to gain an entry to the programme after appearing interview held by the institute.
The prorgramme is conducted in collaboration with Calcutta University.
Examination of students who are in the first and second year are scheduled to commence from January 17.
Shohini Majumder, the registrar of the institute, declined comment on the students' demand.
State government officials said representatives from the department would get in touch with the institute to find out what triggered the anxiety among students.