A day after the State Higher Education Minister acceded to students’ requests and declared the reopening of colleges for lectures on February 15, students have put forth a new demand — that end-semester examinations be conducted online in a multiple-choice question (MCQ) format.
Students, citing reasons such as the ongoing Covid-19 situation, travel constraints, difficulties in online learning, and potential restrictions in attending offline classes upon resumption, argue that disparities in education delivery have left them ill-prepared for traditional pen-and-paper theory exams.
In the last two days, numerous students have taken to social media platforms to voice their demands. On Wednesday, Minister for Higher and Technical Education Uday Samant announced that colleges and universities could resume classes from February 15, allowing 50 percent attendance on a rotational basis.
Vaibhav Edke, a leading student in the social media campaign, explained, “So far, classes have been conducted online, and students were mentally prepared for online exams, as was the case in the first semester. With only 50 percent of students attending classes, there will be disparities in education delivery. It’s unfair to expect us to write lengthy pen-and-paper exams, so we are advocating for online MCQ exams.”
Mahesh Kakade, the director of examinations and evaluation at Savitribai Phule Pune University, clarified that no decision has been made on the matter yet. “On Wednesday evening, the state higher education department issued a government resolution stating that universities should independently decide the mode of examinations. We have a meeting of the board of examinations scheduled over the next couple of days, and a decision will be made there. As of now, there is no decision,” Kakade stated.