‘Promoting students sans exam will hit placements’

JAIPUR: Expressing reservations over promoting students without examination, technical education institutions, especially engineering colleges, are of the opinion that if it is not implemented nationally, the move is likely to hit placements of final year students.
Rajasthan Technical University (RTU), which has close to 100 affiliated engineering colleges, had already released the timetable for examinations to start from July 16. They had made all arrangements to ensure social distancing is now in a fix over the government directive.
Reacting on the move, R A Gupta, vice-chancellor of RTU, said that they have yet to receive an official communication but the decision would not have a major impact on any student. “The final year engineering students have yet to appear in their theory examinations, while they have completed their mid-term and sessional papers. They have appeared in close to 42 papers out of 48 papers in all eight engineering semesters which I believe will not affect their placements,” said Gupta.
On the contrary, experts cautioned the government that those students, who are in the final semester of their engineering course, would likely to face problems when they appear for the interviews as it not being done nationally.
“Technical education is different from degree colleges. The examinations are a precise assessment of the students’ know-how of the subject and form the basis of job or placement. Ideally, the final semester students should be allowed to appear in the examinations as engineering colleges are capable to make suitable arrangements to appear in the examinations,” said Puneet Sharma, a technical education expert.
“PM Narendra Modi and even our chief minister Ashok Gehlot have been repeatedly saying that we have to learn to live with coronavirus for some time. The cancellation of examinations is against the spirit of living with Covid,” said Sharma.