The Federation of Khasi, Jaiñtia and Garo People’s Tura Government College cell today highlighted the concerns of students over the online mode of examination conducted by NEHU in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the students, preventive measures taken against the pandemic crippled many educational institutions, possibly the worst hit amongst the lot. The problem for students, as per the FKJGP, was with NEHU announcing that exams would be held online with results also declared online even though neither NEHU nor the affiliated colleges are equipped to conduct them.
“There were no invigilators during the conduct of exams, which meant that many could resort to unfair means. We will not shy in calling the entire exercise a mere formality,” said chairman Jaksram Sangma.
The FKJGP claimed that despite what was merely a formality, it was astounding that when results were declared, many students found their results declared as invalid, absent or failing to score the required marks.
“We find the whole episode amusing. Who in their right mind would abstain from an examination where he/she could easily score 90 percent marks and how can a student’s results be declared as invalid? How in this situation can someone fail without any invigilator around?” asked vice chairman, Salsal N Sangma.
The NGO added that during the first online exams which were supposed to be held for second, fourth and sixth semester students, exams were only conducted for the latter in TGC in 2020. However, the second and fourth semester students were compensated later in November 2020 as they were made to submit assignments based on which their marks were established.
“Around 200 students from TGC were declared either as absent or invalid in their results despite appearing in all of the exams and submitting all the assignments to the concerned lecturers,” they added.
Adding to the woes of the students was the fact that there was no uniformity in submissions with some lecturers preferring online submissions while others wanted hard copies. In March and July this year, odd semester students faced a similar conundrum, with many again being marked absent, invalid or failed despite the same circumstances.
“TGC students have been running from pillar to post to resolve the matter but despite their efforts, the buck is being passed from one person to another. Many of us are being deprived of pursuing higher studies,” they added while asking all concerned to look into the matter and find a solution.
“We don’t wish to malign anyone but wish for this conundrum to end quickly with a resolution being brought about. Further we would like to urge other students, who are faced with a similar problem, to contact us so that we can try and fix the issue,” they added in a press release.
