BENGALURU: “My father, a construction worker, lost his job during the lockdown, and it’s difficult for him to find another job right now,” said Sumukhi (name changed), a student of Bangalore City University, who is finding it difficult to pay her exam fee.
The parents of most of her peers too come from similar backgrounds. “They work as daily wage workers engaged either in agricultural work or construction. We are struggling to pay college fees and now another set of fees has piled up,” she said.
Recently, BCU declared August 15 as the deadline for filing applications and payment of exam fee, the details of which were uploaded on its website on July 24. “Our situation has been overlooked. Institutes have started acting like everything is back to normal when it is not. Most of my batchmates are considering taking a gap year and doing part-time jobs,” Sumukhi said.
She is not alone. “Many families have lost their jobs and incomes... and it’s been a difficult task to earn a livelihood itself,” said Sithara H M, Bengaluru district president, All-India Democratic Students’ Organisation. “The government should consider this year an extraordinary one and waive all fees related to exams and admissions. We urge the government not to collect examination fees as the pandemic situation continues to worsen,” she added.
The university will conduct practical exams and viva for fourth-semester students of Master’s Programmes between September 15 and 21. The university has already announced on its website that the fourth-semester written exams will be held from September 1-14. Exams to clear backlogs of second semester will be held from September 22 to 30, after the practical exams.
However, exams for second-semester students will not be conducted, in line with government directions, BCU said. Instead, students will be evaluated based on their performances in the internal examinations and the previous semester’s exams.