Visva-Bharati authorities on Monday indefinitely postponed its School Certificate and Pre-Degree exams this year after over 200 school students staged a protest and decided to boycott the examinations demanding more time to prepare for them.
The varsity ordered closure of all hostels of its school, Patha Bhavana, and directed its principal to get them vacated by “4pm” on Tuesday.
“The School Certificate Examination and the Pre-Degree Examination 2022 of Patha Bhavana and Siksha Satra shall remain indefinitely postponed until the situation becomes conducive to holding of the said examinations,” an order issued by acting registrar Ashok Mahato reads.
The Patha Bhavana hostels had been re-opened recently to help examinees take the School Certificate (equivalent to Madhyamik) and Pre-Degree (equivalent to higher secondary) exams.
Visva-Bharati has two schools — Patha Bhavana and Siksha Satra — that are controlled by the varsity’s board. This year the exams were to start from Monday and end on April 2. In all, 300 students were supposed to sit for the two examinations.
On Monday, around 200 students gathered in front of the main gate of the exam venue to demand more preparation time. When that was not given, students said they would boycott the exams. “Every year the final exam of Pre-Degree courses is held two months after the test exam. This time we got only around a month. We demanded more time to prepare but authorities refused. So we decided to boycott the exam,” said a student.
A guardian said they were worried about the future of their children. “What if authorities do not hold the examination again?” he asked.
The students said the decision to close hostels and postpone the exams indefinitely were threats to their career.
Semester exams of around 45 undergraduate and postgraduate departments have been boycotted by protesting students who had been demanding for over a month that their hostels be reopened. Now they want hostels to be reopened and exams be held online if the hostels continue to stay shut.
