THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Hundreds of students, who had enrolled for undergraduate degree programmes in various colleges affiliated to the University of Kerala in 2020-21, are up in arms against the varsity’s decision to conduct the fourth semester degree exam from August 10. The students had already expressed their resentment over the varsity conducting as many as three semester examinations in a short span of around eight months.
The students complained that the fourth semester exam was scheduled barely a month after conducting the third semester exam. Students say their woes began right from the time they enrolled for the degree course in 2020. Though the first semester classes began in the online mode by December 2020, the first semester exam was conducted only in October, 2021.
While the second semester degree exam was held in January this year, the third semester exams were conducted in June. “After the third semester ended in the last week of June, improvement exams of previous semesters were conducted in the first week of July. This was followed by valuation camps of the second semester exam leading to suspension of classes by another week,” said an undergraduate student of a government college in Thiruvananthapuram.
Students say they had got only two weeks of proper classes in the fourth semester and are clueless how they would attempt the exam beginning on August 10. “We appeal to the university to reschedule the fourth semester examination after the Onam holidays in September so that the students will get sufficient classes and time to prepare for the examination,” said the faculty of an affiliated college.
However, the university maintained that communication was given to colleges to begin third semester classes from March and to continue it in online or offline mode during the April-May vacation period. This was to make up for the loss of class hours in the coming months owing to the conduct of examinations in June.
“It should be noted that a semester exam takes around 20 days to be completed and postponing it to September will upset the schedule of the fifth and sixth semester exams slated to be held in November-December this year and April next year,” said N Gopakumar, Controller of Exams, University of Kerala.