Mumbai: A group comprising students, parents, former vice-chancellors, politicians and members of unions affiliated to political parties, protested outside the Mumbai University campus in Kalina on Tuesday and demanded that no exams be held till the pending 2,600 results are declared.
The protest was led by Dr. Balchandra Mungekar, former vice-chancellor of the varsity and member of the Union Planning Commission. Dr. Mungekar said that the university should not conduct the exams scheduled for November and December till the pending answer sheets are evaluated and the results declared.
Dr. Mungekar said, “If the university is unable to declare results, then all students should be granted 50% marks. The exams scheduled for the calendar year should not be affected.”
The protesters also claimed that the university should not conduct online assessments for upcoming exams. They said that online assessments should be implemented in a phased manner and teachers and principals should be taken into confidence. The protesters claimed that the university was tainting its reputation and obstructing its functioning by treating the teaching fraternity shabbily.
Dr. Mungekar said, “We have nothing against online assessments as it is a transparent system. However, it is impractical to entrust a single firm with assessing the answer sheets of 477 examinations. Over five lakh students appear for these exams and over 22 lakh answer books, each comprising 20 pages, have to be evaluated. How can a single company scan and upload 4.4 crore pages?”
The former vice-chancellor questioned how a single company was awarded the contract to undertake online assessments without tenders being invited. Dr. Mungekar said, “Who cleared the contract and under which budgetary provisions will the money be cleared?”
The protesters put forward their demands to senior officials of the university as acting vice-chancellor Dr. Devanand Shinde was away in Kolhapur on a personal visit. The protesters claimed that meritorious students suffered when examiners randomly allotted average marks to declare results.
Sachin Pawar, president of the Students’ Law Council, said, “We will soon start a bigger agitation and won’t withdraw it till our demands are met. The State government is yet to notice the power of students. When they sense our anger, they will heed to our demands.”
Mr. Pawar has written to Governor Ch.Vidyasagar Rao to fill up the vacant posts of vice-chancellor, registrar and the controller of examinations at the university. He said, “Most higher officials in the university have been posted on a temporary basis. There are no officials to hear us out and take proper decisions. Around 3,000 answer sheets have gone missing and no action has been taken. The demand to reduce exam fees is the only one that has been accepted so far.”
