Shillong, May 15: Students of colleges affiliated to North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) have expressed anxiety over the declaration of the undergraduate examination schedule by the varsity even though the syllabus has not been completed yet.
The exams are for students of even semesters under the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) that was introduced by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Students have complained that the mandatory 90 days of classes have not been met and teachers are having to rush through the curriculum to get the students ready in time for the exams.
Such a move by the NEHU authorities is disturbing for students, who are already struggling trying to cope with the burden of being the first batch under the FYUP, which is uncharted territory.
A letter written to NEHU’s Controller of Examinations by students of Shillong College requested the exams slated to be held from May 19, 2026 onwards be postponed because the syllabus was not completed due to the low number of teaching days. Their classes had only begun on February 12.
The students said that it is especially difficult for fourth and sixth semester students with four honours papers. “We are the first batch under (NEP’s FYUP) and are finding it challenging to cope with the syllabus load without proper teaching time,” the letter said.
However, NEHU has not accepted the request.
The NEHU academic calendar mandates that the university will have at least 180 days of actual teaching in a year with at least 90 days teaching days in a semester. Between February 12 and May 19 there are 96 days but this includes Sundays, national and state holidays.
Both students and teachers questioned the lack of sensitivity of the NEHU authorities toward the undergraduates when the varsity has shown leeway in its calendar to postgraduate students in order to fulfill the 90 days’ teaching criterion; postgraduate exams will start on June 18.
Students alleged that this is evidence of a double standard and stepmotherly treatment of undergraduate students.
“How does NEHU expect this first batch of students without any NEP experience to cope with the heavy load, especially those of sixth and fourth semesters?” a teacher asked, adding that they have four honours subjects which have a vast syllabus to cover and the short duration of the teaching days does not make it possible to have meaningful learning for the students.
“With such limited time teachers had to rush students through the syllabus, it shows the stepmotherly treatment of NEHU towards undergraduate students, particularly to those of affiliated colleges,” said another teacher.
The students feel that they are being treated as guinea pigs as they are the first intake of FYUP students. Even the complete syllabus for the fourth year of the FYUP (seventh and eighth semesters) has still not been issued by NEHU.
