CHENNAI: Anna University has announced that the registration for re-exams will be open between May 24 and June 3 for students who did not register for the November-December 2020 examinations. In a circular, the varsity on Saturday said that the web portal of the office of the controller of examinations will levy a special fee of Rs 5,000 to be paid by the students along with the normal exam fee for each paper for students who have exhausted the maximum period of study.
Others have to pay the normal fee for each paper. Students can find details on https://coe1.annauniv.edu. Due to the severity of the Covid-19 outbreak, students have been requested not to visit the varsity in person.
‘Cancel the retest’
Educationalist and former vice-chancellor of Anna University E Balagurusamy, in a letter to Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday, asserted that the State government should cancel the retest and uphold the original online proctored exams. Cancelling the online proctored exams and issuing orders for a retest in the unsupervised online, pen and paper format like other varsities will lower the academic standard of students and spoil the varsity’s reputation, he said.
After the varsity held back the semester results of more than half the students alleging malpractice, the State government said that all students who failed or are unsatisfied with the results shall be allowed to take a retest shortly. Balagurusamy, however, claimed that a large number of students engaged in malpractice and that the varsity “took considerable amount of time to review the audio and video recordings of various kinds of malpractices and declare results”.
Adding that there were no irregularities in the conduct of the exam proctored by Artificial Intelligence, he said that the alternate model might even allow for impersonators to write in place of students.
“The very purpose of an exam is to distinguish between good and bad students and evaluate the level of knowledge acquired by the students.
But the proposed method of examination will definitely defeat this purpose,” he rued. “Moreover, this will seriously affect the career prospects of the good and bright students,” he said. Stating that the proposed examination pattern may not conform the AICTE and UGC guidelines.
‘Call off retests’
Former vice-chancellor of Anna University E Balagurusamy, in a letter to the CM, asserted that the government should cancel the retest