Offline Exams: “Wrote letter to University suggesting review,” ADC; “Did not receive any such letter,” Registrar

Assam University Silchar’s decision to conduct offline examinations has come under immense criticism. As many as seven students who sat for the examinations have already tested covid positive. A professor on examination duty is also at the hospital after testing positive for COVID-19.

Yesterday, a few students went to the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Cachar – Dipak Jidung and submitted a memorandum and urged administration to intervene as they feel, offline examinations will risk their lives.

Speaking with Barak Bulletin, ADC Jidung said that he met the students and heard their issues. He also confirmed that he had written to the Principals of Colleges in Cachar district urging them to completely follow the COVID protocols.

“We had written to the Assam University Authority urging for a meeting to review the decision of conducting offline examinations. The letter was sent to the Assam University Authority on April 19, 2021 and we are yet to get a response,” said Jidung.

He added, “we are not the competent authority to take the final decision and that is why we are urging for a review meeting.”

Registrar of Assam University Silchar Dr. Prodosh Kiran Nath said that Assam University has not received any such letter from the Cachar district administration. “The ADC Education has my whatsapp number, email id but I have not received any letter on whatsapp or email or by post. I have discussed the matter with controller of examinations and even he has confirmed that we are not in receipt of any such letter urging us to review the decision of conducting offline examinations.”

Dr. Nath went on to say that Assam University cannot function or take decision on the basis of recommendation of any single district.

“We have got letter through the office of Deputy Commissioner Dima Hasao which states many local organisations are demanding that examinations must be held offline. They are against the concept of online examinations. We have to take all into consideration before drawing any conclusion.“

Dr. Nath even questioned the decision of ADC Jidung to write to the principals of colleges. “It remains unclear if the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Cachar wrote to the principals as per any particular directive of the state.”

It is worth mentioning here that the Assam government in it’s SOP mentioned that all educational institutions must provide a quality virtual option. Registrar Dr. Nath’s interpretation of this guideline is that it is only applicable for the classes.

Though the university has not received any letter yet the authority has decided to hold a Standing Committee – Academic meeting to “take stock” of the situation. “We are also concerned about the health of our students and stay rest assured that the University will do its best for the students. We will decide in the meeting unanimously what is best to be done in the current scenario.”

While on one side the administration is putting the ball in the court of the Assam University and stating it has written to the authority, the Registrar on the other hand is refusing receipt of any such letter. This only adds to the chaos and confusion and exposes lack of coordination between the departments.

Barak Valley has more than 430 active cases and the positivity rate is skyrocketing. With all that on the backdrop the students are expected to grow as professionals as they appear for arguably the most important examinations of their life but the question is if it is worth risking their lives at this moment with a pandemic that’s showing no signs of ebbing away.