Several distance education students of the University of Kerala are a concerned lot with the examinations of their postgraduate courses set to clash with the schedule of the National Eligibility Test (NET) that will be held from December 2 to 6.
The recent announcement of the UGC-NET examinations, being conducted by the National Testing Agency, has stumped the students of the School of Distance Education (SDE), particularly those pursuing various MA, MSc, and MCom courses. Their fourth-semester university examinations have been scheduled to be held from December 2 to 10.
While the examinations of the distance education courses were meant to be conducted in September and October, the schedule had to be pushed ahead owing to various reasons, including a change in the syllabus, the lack of availability of printing materials, and the delay in publishing the study materials for the fourth semester.
According to Ajay S. Kumar, a postgraduate student who is bound to be affected by the clashing of the examination dates, the varsity authorities have apparently overlooked the scheduling of the NET examinations that are generally held in December and June. Under the circumstances, many candidates will be compelled to appear for one of the examinations while foregoing the fees paid for the other.
Faraway centres
He added that many candidates have been allotted examination centres in as far as Kozhikode for the NET examination, making it difficult for them to return in time to appear for the varsity examinations even on the subsequent days.
While they are eligible to appear for the examinations after six months, the students fear that the delay in completing their courses could impact job prospects and career-enhancement possibilities. The affected students have petitioned both the Controller of Examinations and the SDE Director to reschedule the examinations, but continued to await a favourable decision.
