City colleges plan to conduct online exams during lockdown

City colleges plan to conduct online exams during lockdown

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:10.05.2021

While some city colleges are planning to go ahead with their online semester exams during the lockdown, state universities like Madras University and Anna University are likely to conduct their exams only after the lockdown is over.

Due to the assembly elections in the state, many colleges had scheduled their online exams from May 3. The Tamil Nadu government announced lockdown from May 10 to 24.

The directorate of collegiate education on Sunday asked the particulars from colleges including the number exams completed so far and number of days needed to complete the remaining exams to take a call on online exams.

Loyola College has completed four exams and three exams are scheduled till May 15. "Students and faculty members want to complete the remaining online exams as per the schedule. Since the exam is conducted online, students need not come out of their houses to write the exam. The staff members can also invigilate the exams from their houses. So, we would like to continue with the exams," said Thomas Amirtham, principal of the college.

Students will write the exams in pen and paper mode and scan the answer sheets and send it to colleges online. The 90-minute exams will be monitored online by faculty members.

Guru Nanak College asked the faculty members to prepare to conduct and monitor exams from their houses. "Unless the government says no to conducting online exams, we will continue with our exams as per the schedule," said M G Ragunathan, principal of the college. As per the schedule, the exams will be conducted till June 5.

However, some colleges like DG Vaishnav College postponed their online semester exams to June. "We planned to conduct online exams from May 17. But, all students may not have internet connections at their houses. So, we have decided to postpone it," said S Santhosh Baboo, principal of DG Vaishnav College.

Meanwhile, colleges like Madras Christian College and Women's Christian College have completed their exams.

Madras University also planned to start the online semester exams for affiliated colleges from May 17. However, exams were delayed due to setting question papers and non-payment of exam fees by students. "We will start the online exams only after the lockdown for affiliated college students," an official from the university said.

Anna University announced a retest for students who could not appear for exams due to technical glitches from May 17 for students studying in its four campuses. "The university has not taken any decision on the retest so far," sources in the university said. For affiliated colleges, the university is yet to schedule exams for BE, BTech students due to the confusion over the delay in deciding the mode of exams. The exams are likely to be scheduled only after the lockdown.

NEW REALITIES: Loyola College has completed four exams and three exams are scheduled till May 15