Postal stir may hit Gauhati University answer-scripts delivery

GUWAHATI: The ongoing countrywide strike by rural postal employees may land undergraduate students of Gauhati University in trouble as answer-scripts of semester-end exams may not reach the evaluation zones in time because of the week-long stir.
Rural postal employees, engaged as Gramin Dak Sevaks under India Post, are on strike in Assam too crippling the essential service of mail dispatch. Hundreds of answer-scripts of the just concluded second, fourth and sixth semester examinations of undergraduate courses could not be dispatched or are stuck midway as postal delivery men have abstained from work since Monday.

As 99% of the answer scripts are sent from the examination centres to evaluation zones, a huge number of them have not yet reached the evaluation zones, said GU officials. They fear the delay in dispatch could hit the announcement of results, which in turn may upset the academic plans of students who have appeared in the sixth (final) semester examinations.

"By June, the results of all semester-end examinations should be declared. But the ongoing protests of postal employees has put colleges in a spot. The packets containing the answer-scripts may not reach the evaluation zones in time. Unless India Post considers the issue, the students may suffer," said Debahari Talukdar, deputy controller of examinations at GU.

Since admissions to post graduate courses in renowned universities begin from July, the results have to be published by June to give the students a few days to decide on the future course. "The university wants to declare the results of all the three semesters at the earliest. But we are more concerned about the results of the sixth semester. If the results are not declared by June, the students may face difficulties in applying for post graduate courses," he added.