Worried about safety, VTU students want online exams

Worried about safety, VTU students want online exams

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

24.12.2020

Bengaluru: Engineering college students under the umbrella of Visvesvaraya Technological University have raised concerns over the university calling for offline exams and demanded online exams instead. The exams are scheduled to start from January 18.

Students mentioned safety issues while returning to campuses in large numbers. According to students, many have to return from other states and countries. Hostels have limited facilities, and many will be forced to look for PG accommodation.

“There are problems with hostels as well. Only one hostel has a single-room facility, but they need to share common washrooms and bathrooms. All other hostels have 2/3 students sharing rooms. Six students share a table in the mess and share plates and spoons,” reads a letter circulated by students of BMS College of Engineering.

India Wide Parents Association has dashed off a letter to the chief minister asking him to conduct exams online. “Many colleges are calling students for offline lab without giving any advance notice… Several other universities are conducting exams in online mode,” says their letter.

Students from various colleges under VTU have also taken to social media to voice their apprehensions and #vtucancelofflineexams was trending on Twitter by Wednesday afternoon. Some students alleged that the syllabus is incomplete and online classes have been ineffective.

However, vice-chancellor Karisidappa said there is no provision of online exams. “Many universities have tried online exams and have miserably failed with accessibility and proctoring. Even while we conduct online classes, network is a major challenge. We cannot hope to conduct online classes,” he said.

He pointed out that the university has successfully conducted offline exams for final-year students. “We’ll follow a model of staggering students. We’ll start with the seventh semester, followed by fifth and third semesters. We’re getting our hostels ready for it,” he added.

According to him, attendance for practical classes is around 80% and theory classes is 50%.

RISK FACTOR: Many students are concerned about health