Students threaten to boycott process if not taken on board
Suhail Bhat
SRINAGAR, May 16: Kashmir University has added to the prevailing uncertainty over the holding of examination of various Under Graduate and Post Graduate courses by asking students to submit the examination forms.
The students have been demanding the University to follow the recommendation of the University Grants Commission (UGC) regarding the conduct of the examination. In view of the COVID 19 Pandemic, the UGC had recommended that university exams should be conducted for final semesters only, while the students in intermediate semesters should be graded based on an internal assessment of the present and previous semesters.
The KU officials said that they are yet to take a final call on the conduct of exams. “We have not decided whether to conduct exams or grade students as per the internal assessment. We have only asked them to submit forms so that we are sure about the combination of subjects the students have opted for,” Akbar Masood, Dean Academic Kashmir University told Excelsior.
Some students, however, termed the decision as a means to extort money from the students. “It is all a matter of money. The university will suffer huge losses in terms of examination fees if they abide by the UGC guidelines and simply promote students. They just want to earn money,” a student said.
He asked at a time when the university should devise means to decrease the economic burden of the students, they are seeking examination fees from them. “The Valley is facing an extreme economic crisis and the University should give some fee concessions this year,” he said.
The decision has evoked strong resentment among the students who blamed the University for sidelining their issues. The students said that they want the university to follow the UGC guidelines that were issued in view of the Coronavirus pandemic. “It deeply concerns all the students how or what measures will be taken for an evaluation process. The students do not demand mass promotion but evaluation as per University Grants Commission’s protocol that is based on internal assessment and previous record only,” a statement issued by “The Joint CR Association” of the University of Kashmir reads.
The students advised the Varsity not to compare them with the students of the rest of the country as they have faced two back-back lockdowns in the last 10-months. “They (students from rest of the country) have only lost 3 months so far and their administration has made decisions quickly. We have lost years altogether and are on the same page,” they said.
As the pressure of exams mount, the students are flooded with assignments. “In order to complete the syllabus, the respective departments are flooding the students with assignments, plus the number of online classes are more than enough and scheduled abnormally that spare no personal time for students. The authority should ask all the departments not to put extra load on students as they are already having deeply disturbing experience,” students said.
The students have threatened to boycott the examinations process if the Varsity fails to take them on board. “The Joint CR Association of the University of Kashmir has planned complete boycott with the full support of all the students, if the authority again fails to respond and if our demands are not taken into consideration,” the students said.
Meanwhile, the students have requested the Lt. Governor, G C Murmu to intervene into the matter.
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