College students sit for exam in groups, share the answers -

College students sit for exam in groups, share the answers -

The Times Of India

Sambath.Kumar@timesgroup.com

Trichy:23.09.2020

Students appearing for online end-semester examination in groups and sharing answers among themselves are posing a big challenge to colleges in conducting the examination in a fair manner. Bharathidasan University, which admits that it has no mechanism in place to monitor it, has warned of serious consequences if students are caught resorting to such unfair means.

When the examinations started on Monday, students of the same class had gathered in groups of 10-12 at several places in Trichy city as well as rural areas.

As soon as the examination started, they downloaded the question paper and split questions among themselves. After searching for the right answers from internet and text books, they shared the answers among themselves through WhatsApp and wrote them down in their answer scripts. This was confirmed by some teachers as well.

“Students are not supposed to appear for the exam in groups which was clearly mentioned in the examination guidelines,” said BDU controller of examination S Srinivasa Raghavan. He clarified that it isn’t an open book examination and action will be initiated against such students found to be resorting to unfair means.

Students say they were apprehensive about writing the exam in isolation and came together to write the exam but eventually ended up indulging in this practice fearing low marks. Being the last examination in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, they see it as an opportunity to boost their overall percentage in the degree programme.

S Kishore, who secured an average 55% marks in the last five semesters of his undergraduate programme, wants to ensure that he secures not less than 60% marks. “With no academic activity over the last five months, we have lost track of the subject and it was difficult to recall everything without classroom revision,” he said.

The controller of examination of an autonomous arts and science college in Trichy city said they are giving priority to the safety of students by asking them to isolate themselves athomefor the exam. “We asked our students to appear for the examination in an honest and fair manner though there is no mechanism in place to monitor it. We wanted to utilize the web cam of the computer or front camera of the mobile phone for this, but it was ruled out as it consumes additional data and not all students can afford it,” said the controller.

As soon as the examination started, the students downloaded the question paper and split questions among themselves. After searching for the right answers from the internet and text books, they shared it through WhatsApp and wrote them down in their answer scripts