KSLU’s intermediate semester exam plan draws criticism

HUBBALLI: The University Grant Commission (UGC), Union education ministry and the state government have cancelled intermediate semester examinations of all universities. But Karnataka State Law University (KSLU), the largest federal university in India having 106 colleges under its umbrella, has issued a notification of conducting examinations in October.

Thousands of students hailing from other states and countries are worried due to this move.
Purbayan Chakraborty, Darshan C, Dishti Dora and Aditya Satyappanavar, law students from Bengaluru, Hubballi and other cities, told TOI the notification is a deviation from UGC guidelines dated July 6 and state government’s order dated July 10.
“These guidelines have mandated all the universities in the state to evaluate their intermediate semester students under comprehensive formula, where 50% weightage would be in internal evaluation and 50% would be in the marks scored in the previous semester. KSLU has covered only 70-80% of the syllabus through online mode but most of us were unable to attend online classes due to poor internet accessibility and affordability. Hence the exam will have a disproportionate impact on us,” they alleged.
Students Urooj Ahmed Havaldar and Naveen Kumar K and others alleged KSLU was not attending students’ grievances. “When we requested officials, they passed the buck to the Bar Council of India (BCI). How can students from other states and abroad, attend exams physically if there are restriction on inter-state or international travel? Further, as the university and colleges were closed for months, we did not get access to library. Law education cannot be qualitative without referring supportive books,” they rued.