Students of Odisha varsity seek online exam, stage stir 

Principal of the college Suprema Kanungo said the campus has been sanitised after the faculty member was found positive.
Students staging protest outside Paradip College on Monday | Express
Students staging protest outside Paradip College on Monday | Express

SAMBALPUR/JAGATSINGHPUR: Students of Gangadhar Meher University (GMU) on Monday staged demonstration in front of the Collectorate demanding conduct of Plus III third semester examinations through online mode.

Subrat Satpathy, a Plus III second year student, said, “The university has announced third semester examination from April 19 through offline mode. How is this a feasible arrangement when Covid cases are surging across the State? If the exams are held offline, the students will be at risk of exposure to the virus.”

Stating that positive cases have already been reported from GMU premises, another protesting student Anupama Seth said the classes were conducted online and the authorities should adopt similar method for exams.

Sambalpur Collector Shubham Saxena assured the students of taking necessary action in this regard. However, GMU Vice-Chancellor N Nagaraju said the decision to conduct online examinations cannot be taken by the university.

“If the Higher Education department wants, exams can be held online,” he added.

On the day, students of Paradip College staged dharna outside the campus demanding online semester examination after a faculty member tested Covid-19 positive.

A lecturer of the political science department was found infected on Friday but prior to receiving her test result, she had conducted classes in the college and attended other academic works. The students alleged that so far no contact tracing has been done despite the fact that many of her students had attended the classes.

Principal of the college Suprema Kanungo said the campus has been sanitised after the faculty member was found positive. “Since the college is affiliated to Utkal University, we have sought intervention of the varsity’s Controller of Examination to consider conduct of online tests in place of physical semester examination”, said Kanungo.

The semester examinations are scheduled to be held from April 20.

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