Campus chorus for LU to cancel exams gets louder

Campus chorus for LU to cancel exams gets louder

Profs Testing Corona +ve Spurs Protest

Mohita.Tewari@timesgroup.com

Lucknow:  26.06.2020

With the spike in Covid-19 cases in the city and experts predicting infection rate to peak in July, the opposition to Lucknow University’s decision to hold examinations from next month is getting louder. After protests by students and teachers went unheard, a group of LU students on Thursday approached the high court for redressal of their grievances.

Protests started soon after LU’s recent announcement that examinations of over 1.60 lakh students enrolled in its 170 associated colleges will be held in July and August.

The exams are being opposed on the grounds that three LU teachers and several students have tested positive for Covid-19 and the number of cases in the city has crossed 900-mark. The city now has 69 containment zones and experts have predicted further rise in coronavirus cases in the coming days.

LU Teachers’ Association has written to chief minister and deputy CM demanding postponement of examinations. LU Associated Colleges Teachers’ Association has also registered a strong protest and even threatened to boycott the exams. Students’ bodies are holding protest on the streets daily. Students have also been running online campaigns. The common refrain is that assembly of students for examination is an open invitation to virus.

Besides, students are also citing practical problems such as how those living in containment zones will appear for exams and what will happen if their residential area is declared a containment zone during exams, many students told TOI during a rapid telephonic survey.

Similarly, some pointed out, if a college is located a containment zone, then how will students go there and will exams be abandon midway, if the area where college is located is converted into a containment zone. They also said thermal scanning and social distancing of lakhs of students is impossible.

Another big question raised by students is: What will happen if there is an Covid outbreak on the campus during examinations as it happened in the government helpline office or PAC barracks? In such a scenario, not only students and teachers, but their families too will be at risk, they said.

Ankit, a resident of Habibullah hostel who had gone home in Gorakhpur after the outbreak, said “Travelling itself is risky in the times of corona. Even if I reach Lucknow, where would I quarantine myself before exams. Also, with hostellers using common washrooms and mess, how will social distancing will be ensured?”

Rahul Mishra, another student who shared a rented room with other students, said “My landlord is not willing to have us back during pandemic.”

BCom student Divya Malhotra raised question how will answer sheets and question papers, which go through several hands, will be sanitized?