JNU to hold exams through WhatsApp, email

New Delhi: Faced with a boycott of end of semester examinations by students in protest against a fee hike, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration has decided to conduct exams through WhatsApp and email.

In a letter sent to chairpersons of all the centres in JNU, School of International Studies (SIS) Dean Aswini K Mohapatra said the decision was taken in view of the “extraordinary situation” on the campus.

He said a meeting took place between the Vice-Chancellor (VC), the Deans of Schools and the Chairpersons of Special Centres on December 16 to decide the methodology of exams.

“The decision was made in the academic interest of the students. There was a consensus in the meeting held on December 16 that an alternative mode of test in the end semester examination for MPhil/PhD and MA Programme be conducted,” Mohapatra said.

The proposed method requires the question papers to be sent to the students by their course teachers, which must be submitted to respective course teachers by December 21.

“The question papers will be sent to the students registered for the courses by the course teachers for MPhil and MA programme. The centre chairpersons may prepare the examination schedule as per the requirement of the centre. The students are requested to submit the answer scripts for evaluation either through email or images of hand-written scripts through WhatsApp or personally to course teachers. The last date for submission of examination scripts is December 21,” Mohapatra wrote.

In case the students fail to submit answer scripts by December 21, an additional day may be given to them for submission.

However, the administration agreed that there was no way to ensure transparency or prevent cheating in writing the answer scripts.

“In the given circumstances, there is no other way to conduct exams. I am only concerned about the future of the students,” Mohapatra said in the letter.

Meanwhile, JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) dismissed the letter by SIS Dean and described the move “totally absurd.”

“This is laughable. This is nothing but a ploy to divide students of Jawaharlal Nehru University. They want to pit students against each other. But we will not let them succeed in their nefarious agenda,” JNUSU told Gulf News.

JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) said the decision to conduct exams through WhatsApp and email was “out-and-out mockery” of a serious academic process.

“That such an unbelievably out-and-out mockery of what is supposed to be a serious academic exercise can be conceived under the leadership of VC Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar speaks more about how unfit he is to head an institution of higher learning. Needless to say, nothing proposed in the note has been decided through due process,” JNUTA said in a statement.

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been witnessing a series of protests by students over the hostel fee hike announced on November 12. The students boycotted their end of semester exams as part of their protest against the hike, which affected around 40 per cent of them.

Last week, Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said the fee hike was announced in order to meet increased expenditure on maintenance of hostels and to run them on a “no profit no loss” basis.

In a written reply to a question over the fee hike, Nishank said the varsity has increased room rents after around 40 years.

Last week, JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar also held a meeting with hostel presidents to discuss the situation but “nothing conclusive” came out of it.