Calcutta University students protest demanding online exams

KOLKATA: Demanding online examinations, students demonstrated at the Calcutta University (CU) on Friday. Around 200 students demonstrated outside the varsity's main campus at College Street, claiming that two months of classroom teaching was not enough for finishing the syllabus of a six-month semester and holding offline examinations.

"Classes were held on campus only for two months and we are expected to write papers based on the whole syllabus. This is possible only if exams are held in an open book format like the last two years," said Arijit Saha, a student of CU-affiliated Bangabasi College. Similar protests were held twice in the last one week at the varsity's main campus.

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Two high-power committees formed by CU have recommended the undergraduate and post-graduate end-semester examinations be held in the offline mode. However, principals of colleges have been asked to give their feedback on the recommendation. Vice-Chancellor Sonali Chakraborty Banerjee told PTI on Thursday that the varsity will take the final decision after getting opinions from all stakeholders.

A CU official said that while the faculty is overwhelmingly in favour of offline exams, a section of students, including the students' unions, want the online examination system to continue. Trinamool Chhatra Parishad state president Trinankur Bhattacharya said general students were demanding online examinations.