Offline exams: Univs have to factor in outstation students, quarantined

Trichy: While universities and colleges are preparing to conduct final year semester examinations in offline mode as instructed by the state government, many students residing outside the state may not be able to appear for them in person at short notice. Arrangements will also have to be made for students who are under home quarantine. Taking into account these difficulties, Bharathidasan University is now looking at the possibility of conducting the exams, scheduled from September 15 to 30, in online mode also for outstation students.
“There is a possibility of having final semester examination in both online and offline mode. We are awaiting directions from the state government on conducting examination for students who are staying outside Tamil Nadu in other states and even outside the country,” BDU registrar G Gopinath told TOI. The university administration will be convening a meeting on Monday to work out the modalities and decide on the same. The controller of examination has been vested with the job in consultation with the vice-chancellor and registrar.
The registrar said that providing accommodation for outstation students may not be feasible at this point. Asked on students who may be infected with Covid-19 and are undergoing quarantine, he said they can be given special attention and may even be combined with outstation students to appear for online mode. “They may also be allowed to write the examination at a later stage if they produce a medical certificate,” he said.

Though there won’t be much issues for final year postgraduate students as they have only project work, final year undergraduate students will have to appear for theory papers. A final year PG student residing in West Bengal said he was yet to receive any clear instruction from the university on the examination. “We were asked to appear for viva voce through online mode a few days ago, but it was postponed without mentioning the date. I will not be able to return to the university on such short notice,” he said.