-Dipta Joshi

In Mumbai, undergraduate students belonging to autonomous colleges want their final year summer 2022 exams to be held in online mode. Several autonomous colleges in the city have announced their decision to hold the final semester (6) exams offline even as the University of Mumbai (MU) has asked affiliated colleges to hold all third-year undergraduate exams in online mode.

Announcing the dates for the third-year exams beginning April 19, the University of Mumbai clarified (March 4) that while most postgraduate and some undergraduate exams were to be held offline, all third-year exams (except the practical exams) would be held online. While the order is applicable to the 318 Mumbai city and Mumbai suburban colleges affiliated to Mumbai University, the city’s 43 autonomous institutes are free to decide their individual examination modalities.

Third-year students from autonomous colleges are asking for parity in the examination modalities and the evaluation system between autonomous and non-autonomous colleges. Students from autonomous colleges who will have to write subjective exams believe their peers from non-autonomous colleges are bound to score better since online exams follow the multiple-choice questions (MCQ) format. 

Students also feel written exams will lead to results being delayed and prefer online exams where the results are declared immediately. Thus, many students hoping for a positive intervention have now taken to social media to reach out to the media, Mumbai University and government authorities.

Mails sent out by the students of St. Xavier’s College (Mumbai) request switching the examination mode to online “so that all students are assessed fairly in comparison to their peers studying in non-autonomous institutes and also for the convenience of outstation students coming from places as far as Manipur and Dubai.” The mails also point out to some autonomous institutes like Sophia College for Women which have given in to the student’s demands switching over to online examination mode.

The Maharashtra government has eased most COVID related restrictions (except keeping on one’s mask and maintaining physical distancing) since March 1. With the class X and XII exams too happening offline, most autonomous colleges see no reason why third-year students cannot write their exams offline.

“Online teaching and assessments were a necessary stop-gap arrangement during the two years of the COVID pandemic. However, with normalcy returning in all other areas, we should try to get education on track too. Students’ final year results hold a lot of importance and cannot be taken lightly. Holding physical exams for final year students is in their interest since subjective exams are always a better reflection of the student’s understanding of the subject than the MCQ format used in online exams,” says Dr. Krutika Desai, in-charge principal, Mithibai College.

Many colleges have also been preparing students for offline exams by encouraging on-campus attendance and are even arranging hostel accommodation  for outstation students attending the exams. Institutions are also tailoring exam paper patterns this year to make it fair for the students. 

While Mithibai College students will appear for a 50 marks subjective paper, St. Xavier’s students will have both short answers and MCQs in their 50 marks paper. However, students who abstain from writing their summer exams will have to attempt a 100 marks subjective only paper in October this year.   

In a letter to students, Rajendra Shinde, principal, St. Xavier’s College defends the college’s stand on offline exams stating, “We are now taking steps to move towards a more engaging method of education – knowing and acknowledging that online teaching across the globe has caused deterioration in the quality of education. Our goal with offline exams is finally this – we want to provide you with a mark sheet that will have some credibility in a competitive job market with tough interview questions, and only offline exams can bring that credibility back to the pre-COVID levels.”

Also read: UGC to allow 900 autonomous colleges to offer online degrees