Students gripped by fear as offline exams continue

Colleges across the city are holding offline exams in the midst of the second wave, with some even insisting that Covid-positive students appear for them

Colleges affiliated to the Visvesvaraya Technological University have been conducting offline exams from April 19. A professor told Metrolife the exams could become super-spreader events.

“We were conducting offline exams in April and students were not following even basic protocols. For the upcoming exams, our college will have 300-500 students at a time,” she explains.

She adds that the only circular they got was the one on April 13 with the exam time table. It had nothing about what to do to deal with the pandemic scenario.

Final year masters students of Indian Institute of Psychological Research, Madiwala had their practicals offline from April 15 to 19. “The college asked students to bring a Covid negative report, but they are forcing Covid positive people to come in PPE kit and give their exams,” says final year student Ananya. (name changed).

She adds that they are allowing students who haven’t gotten the results of their Covid tests to write the exams on the basis that they have given a test.

“They have also allowed a student who was Covid positive to give her exam when she wasn’t wearing a PPE kit,” she says. Covid positive students are allocated a different room on the same floor as the rest of the students.

“The ones who couldn’t give the test at all were given the option of writing a supplementary paper next year but nobody took this option as they didn’t want to lose a year,” she says.

She adds that since the exams, many are showing symptoms and two of her classmates have tested positive.

Sampurna Montfort College, Indiranagar, was also set to begin their offline exams on April 19. They have now been postponed to next month. Students received news of the postponement past 8 pm on April 18.

“The exams were first scheduled for January 4. This is the 12th time it has been postponed. We’re trying to get them to cancel it and evaluate us internally,” says student Mohan (name changed).

Victor Das, principal, says the college is affiliated to Bengaluru North University, and is bound by its decisions which is why the announcement took so long.

“The most unbelievable thing is they want even Covid-postive students to come and write the exams. They say positive students will be seated separately in the same examination centre,” Mohan says.

Another student, Mariam (name changed) says the university has not sent any official communication. “When Covid positive students approached them, the authorities told them they have to write exams offline,” she says.

If they miss the exams they have no alternative but to be held back for a year and take supplementary exams next year. The Mount Carmel College was set to hold its end semester exams on April 19 but has now indefinitely postponed them.

A few practical exams have already been conducted offline earlier this month, a student says. Christ (Deemed to be University) was also set to conduct offline exams in May.

In an address on Sunday, Vice Chancellor Abraham Vettiyankal Mani had said, “The exams will be conducted offline to protect the sanctity and integrity of the examinations.” The decision was changed after that. “The exams are now online. Students have to take a viva for each subject as well. They want to ensure students have not copied their way through the written paper,” says Ameena, a student (name changed). St Joseph’s College (Autonomous) will hold offline exams in June. “We had offline exams last semester even though the student body opposed it. This time there has been no official notice,” says a student.

St Joseph’s College of Commerce is one of the few colleges in the city to have given up on offline exams. “We were told that we’d have offline exams but in lieu of the recent events they have made it online,” says student Thomas (name changed).