Candlelight Exams at Assam University: Registrar Says “Generators Not Feasible but Inverter Was There”

Assam University has once again made headlines, this time for an unusual and concerning reason: an end-of-semester exam was conducted under candlelight due to a power outage.

On May 20, Tuesday, heavy storms reportedly led to an electricity failure in parts of the university. Despite the outage, exams were conducted in some departments, but with dark clouds overhead and no power supply, classrooms were too dim to write in. Instead of postponing or shifting the exam, students were provided with candles and made to sit for their papers in the dim light, raising serious questions about the university’s preparedness and power backup systems. As per reports, the photo circulating online showing students writing exams beside candles is from the Department of Law.

Speaking to Barak Bulletin, Dr Pradosh Kiran Nath, the Registrar of Assam University, said, “I was not officially informed regarding this. I came to know about it from the media, from Barak Bulletin. Nobody from the department informed me about this issue.”

He further explained that while it is not feasible for the University to provide a generator to each department, “All departments have inverters, and they should have used the power backup using inverters. Why it wasn’t used or what might have happened, I have no idea. Nobody informed me.”

Registrar Nath added that conducting exams under candlelight is “not desirable”, but since there was no official communication from the department concerned, he is not in a position to comment on what went wrong. He reiterated multiple times that no formal report had reached his office, nor was any support requested by the department during the incident.

When asked what action the administration would take since the department failed to report the matter, the Registrar said, “If they deem fit, they will inform me. All the departments have inverters, and it may be some accident that caused this, but I don’t have any information to comment on that.”

Suprabir Dutta Roy, the Controller of Examination of the central university, also told Barak Bulletin that no one from the department informed him or the exam branch. He also mentioned that the concern lies with the department in question.

Following the breaking of the news by Barak Bulletin, reactions have been mixed. Some praised the determination of the students who continued with their exam despite the uncomfortable and dim conditions. Others criticised the university’s lack of preparedness and poor crisis management, especially for a Central institution.

While the Registrar maintains that inverters are already in place, the fact that exams proceeded by candlelight suggests otherwise, or at least points to a malfunction that went unreported.