The Calicut University authorities have been accused of abruptly changing the academic calendar of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, incurring the wrath of a section of teachers.
According to sources, an order was issued on July 29 calling for completion of second semester classes in undergraduate courses without entrance examination on August 2 and those with entrance examination on August 18. Postgraduate courses with and without entrance examination too should end their second semester classes on August 18. Classes for second semester B.Ed. and M.Ed. courses should end on August 16. Classes for third semester undergraduate courses have been asked to commence on August 3 and those for other courses mentioned earlier on August 31. As per an earlier order issued by the university, the second semester classes for undergraduate and postgraduate courses were supposed to end only on September 27.
Some of the teachers, who wished not to be quoted, said they “would not be able to do justice” to students if the courses were completed in such a hurry. Confederation of Kerala College Teachers, an organisation affiliated to the Indian Union Muslim League, has protested against the move. Arun Karippal, a Senate member, has also sent a letter to Vice Chancellor M.K. Jayaraj, demanding that the move be revoked.
Mr. Karippal claimed that both the students and the teachers had been under stress because they were supposed to complete all the formalities of normal classes, such as assignments, seminars and internal assessment, in online mode as well. Undergraduate students were being asked to enter the third semester though the exams for the first and second semesters were not over. “This July had been a hectic period for teachers because they had exam and answer script evaluation duty. Only in June we got some time to take classes,” he added.
However, the university authorities are claiming that the colleges had been asked earlier itself to take classes in April and May. If the third semester classes do not start this week, it would have a cascading effect and other semesters too would be delayed, they added. Mr. Karippal, however, said that the directive to take classes in April-May had been optional and most colleges had used those days to cover pending portions only. The university could have cut short the syllabus instead of changing the academic calendar, he said.
