St. Joseph University students to boycott online exam for final semester

Dimapur, Aug. 6 (EMN): The Students’ Council of St. Joseph University (SCSJU), Dimapur and the Inter-Department Association (IDA) have decided to withhold payment of examination fees and boycott online examinations scheduled to be conducted for final-semester students.

In a press statement issued on Thursday, the SCSJU stated that the decision was taken following the expiry of the deadline, August 5, given by the students’ council and IDA to the university's administration.

Despite repeated appeals and statements made by the students and teachers, the university administration has failed to address the grievances and provide any written statement, it stated.

The administration insisted on conducting online examinations for final-semester students regardless of repeated requests made by the students, it added.

Stating that majority of the students are from remote areas where there is no good internet connectivity and power supply, it said conducting final-semester examinations through online mode is not practical and it will be difficult.

The SCSJU said though UGC has announced conducting of examination for final-year students, keeping in mind the lack of basic infrastructure at institutions and accessibility of internet to the students, especially in remote areas which is not feasible to uniformly adopt the online mode of examination, it requested the administration to consider; however, it stated that the university has decided to conduct exams without considering the difficulties of the students.

Citing the circular issued by the university's controller of examinations "students writing online exams should be monitored using Google Meet. If students disconnect from the meeting for more than 30 seconds, it will result in invalidation of the current examination," SCSJU said 'video meeting' without disruption will be impossible for students in remote areas where internet connectivity is very poor. Moreover, to access these facilities, students have two own a smartphone or laptop which many students do not have, it added.

"Students are also prohibited to refresh the page or open other tabs in their browser. This is impossible as internet connection will surely be disrupted while writing the exam. Throughout the examination, students will be under a lot of psychological stress due to the fear of disconnecting from the internet which will affect their performance in the paper. This system only put a lot of pressure on students and invigilators, and may lead to wrong dismissals, but will fail to prevent malpractices. Students have been asked to report if internet is accessible the day before the exam. But in many places, internet connections are highly erratic and sometimes may not be available only during the duration of the exam. The university has provided students the option of attending a written test once the institute reopens. However, it is extremely discriminatory towards students from rural areas who will lose an entire academic year because of the highhandedness of the administration," the press release read.

On examination fees, it asked the authority why students are being charged the usual fees (between INR 1400 to 2000 per student) when the end-semester examinations are conducted online which do not require stationery goods and evaluation are done by faculty members instead of paid external examiners.

It also stated that the university has collected fees from majority of the students for the whole semester including tuition, hostel and bus fees and informed that students will not be allowed to appear for exams without paying the full fees.

SCSJU pointed out that despite the payment of semester fees, the teaching and non-teaching staff are not been paid full amount salary since the lockdown began. So far, it said the teachers are only paid till April and received only 80 percent of their salary (excluding allowance for research supervision) for the month of April.

The salaries of teachers are also not paid on time. Only 30% of April salary was released on August 5. Salaries are put on hold even though they continue to offer their service by taking online classes, supervising and evaluating UG, PG, MPhil, and PhD dissertations, it stated.

The students’ council and the Inter-Department Association condemned the insensitive and callous attitude that the university shown to students and teachers.

The hypocrisy of the administration can be seen as the administration blamed poor internet connection for not responding to the letters and requests sent by students and teachers on various issues, but still expect over 1000 final year students to appear for online examinations without being disrupted for even 30 seconds, it read.

"As students, we realize that end-semester examinations will need to be conducted as per the directives of the UGC. However, alternate arrangements which will be conducive for students in Nagaland need to be arranged – such as take-home online tests, written examinations conducted at a deferred date (like Nagaland University)," it stated.

It also demanded the unity to refund of examination, hostel and bus fees from the month of March and April and pay full amount of salary to teachers the whole duration of the lockdown and for the upcoming semester if further fees are to be paid by students.

It further appealed to all the university administration, stakeholders, parents, government offices and higher authorities to consider their genuine concerns and take necessary actions to solve the problems.