Despite calls for change, university exams likely to be held as decided

Following a directive from the Bombay High Court, the director of higher education, Maharashtra had accepted a list of suggestions by a group of students who had moved the court seeking relaxation in offline exams and uniformity in all varsity exams. However, according to sources, the demands such as MCQs for all offline exams and the publication of all results before single one date, among others, are difficult to meet as the exam patterns and schedules have already been decided and the varsities have made arrangements accordingly.

“The entire schedule cannot be disturbed at the last moment. Also, bringing uniformity to all varsity exams right away after pandemic-enforced delays will be difficult. Considering different situations in different areas during the pandemic, the exam patterns as well as schedules were different. The coming academic year will be a year of recovery from all the delays,” said a source from the higher education department, adding that the students’ suggestions have been forwarded to the minister’s office for further deliberation.

State Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant has already insisted on continuing with the decided pattern. “The industries, too, have communicated the importance of holding offline exams when it comes to determining job appointments,” said Samant, adding that the current exam format was decided after a detailed discussion in a meeting of all the vice-chancellors.

“However, we have made a provision for gaps between two papers, additional time to complete a paper and a question bank for students,” Samant said.

The pending university-level final exams have been a cause for concern for a while now, with several students demanding relaxations after two years of online learning.