NAGPUR: Bowing to demand from students, the Nagpur University on Thursday took a U-turn on its stand to conduct the upcoming summer examinations only in offline mode. Now, the exams will be held online with an option of pen and paper format.
The decision was taken after a marathon meeting of the university’s Board of Examinations and Evaluation (BoEE), where the members considered the pros and cons of conducting the examinations in online and offline modes. The BoEE’s decision of holding the exams in blended format would be tabled before the Academic and Management councils for approval.
“We may start with final year exams from mid-May. We aim to declare the results at the earliest so that students can apply for postgraduate admissions or jobs. It was also one of the reasons for continuing with the online pattern,” BoEE director Prafulla Sable told TOI, adding that pre-final papers would be held later.
The practical exams would be held strictly in offline mode just like the pre-Covid years at the college level.
Sable stated that once again Promarc will be conducting the exams. “There will be no change in the format of multiple-choice questions. The students will have to solve the papers just like last two years — either on mobile or laptops or desktops. But the winter exams will be strictly held in offline format and we will begin preparations in the next couple of days. I have asked the officials concerned to make the question papers ready for the next exams,” he said.
Besides protests from students, the BoEE members took many other factors into consideration. It included scorching heat in Vidarbha and delay in commencing the papers. “Our summer exams usually start towards February-end. In 2020, exams had begun on February 27 and by the time coronavirus hit the country on March 16, most of our first phase papers were over. If conducted in offline mode now, exams would continue till August, thereby delaying the results and further admissions. The threat of Covid is also looming with over a thousand cases already registered in a day in Delhi,” he said.
