Coronavirus: WhatsApp exams over, Bihar university ready for results

Source: MGCU

Abhay Anand | April 23, 2020 | 01:27 PM IST

NEW DELHI: Having conducted internal assessments on WhatsApp for several departments, the Mahatma Gandhi Central University (MGCU) in Motihari, Bihar, is getting ready to start declaring results from April 24.

The spread of coronavirus and the lockdown enforced to control it has disrupted the regular calendar of academic activities – teaching, exams, admissions – across the country. While many institutions have suspended classes and are attempting to teach online, some have gone a step ahead and tried to hold exams using unconventional methods. The university in Bihar chose WhatsApp.

Having spent some time in the spotlight last week for this decision, the university administration is now defensive. Speaking to Careers360, Shephalika Mishra, Public Relation Officer of the university said the university has not done anything that goes against the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) guidelines. “This is 20 marks assessment and in the times of lockdown when universities are trying out new things to engage with students we are also trying the same through different platforms,” Mishra said.

However, the UGC is yet to come up with any formal guidelines permitting universities to conduct assessment examination over WhatsApp or any other social media platform. It has constituted a seven-member committee to understand the impact of COVID-19 lockdown and suggest measures to be undertaken to normalise the functioning in higher education institutions.

Write, scan, send

Pavnesh Kumar, Dean, School of Commerce & Management Sciences said that the university is holding classes through Google Meet, and also engaging with students through other platforms. He said: “On WhatsApp, we give internal assessment work to students. We have a WhatsApp group of students and faculty members of the very department. What we have done is that we have shared the questions for internal assessment with students. They have to write down their answer on paper, then sign each paper and then scan the page using CamScanner [a mobile application] and then send it back through WhatsApp.”

Another official of the university explained that this is an internal assessment exam after which there will be an interview based on which final assessment will be done. He said that right now this is also to ensure that they are engaged with the university and their department, as it has been a month since university closed down due to lockdown.

Not all departments

However, the WhatsApp mode of examination has not been adopted by all departments. Some are still continuing with online classes and are still hoping that once the lockdown is lifted, they will be able to conduct assessment in the regular mode. Mritunjay Kumar, who teaches in the sociology department, said that his department is not doing any assessment through WhatsApp and is only conducting online classes right now.

There are also apprehensions about the students using unfair means while answering the questions through WhatsApp. Kumar said: “We understand that these students are mature enough and when leading universities around the world are going for open book examination, including our IITs [Indian Institutes of Technology], then we have to have some level of trust in students. We are asking students to sign their papers after completing their answers.”

The university is also facing criticism for using a social media platform for conducting assessments that are part of the mid-term examination. Kumar said that the university gave departments the liberty to choose the mode. “So far I have not received any complaint from students on this,” Kumar said.

He also said that unlike other big central or state universities, his university does not have hundreds of students in one department. There are 30 students in each course and the teacher knows every student personally.