B.Ed final year students held a protest demonstration on Tuesday at the Gauhati University (GU) campus demanding that the exams be scheduled before September 30, 2020.
Some universities in the Northeast have started online tests for students in the final year. But GU-affiliated colleges have not made any such announcements. In view of the uncertainty hanging in the air, the protesting students said that either a clear cut policy should be established for final year students with regard to the examinations or that degrees should be offered on the basis of an internal assessment.
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Later, the students stated in a statement that GU Registrar HK Nath had informed them that the university would publish a notice of appeal in the next few days. "We cleared Assam High School TET (Teachers' Eligibility Test) held on January 19, 2020 of this year. However, as per the government notification, the final year BEd mark sheet is essential to be considered as an eligible candidate for application against the positions of high school teachers. The Minister of State for Education has already announced the publication of high school teaching posts by the first week of September. So we need our results as soon as possible, "the statement said.
On August 21, 2020 the students requested the Vice-Chancellor of the GU, PJ Handique, to conduct the exams and to report the results soon. "We have been notified that our examinations will begin on September 15, 2020. But we haven't received any notice until this date. However, it has come to our notice that students at the same session from other universities have had their results and would naturally have an advantage over us when it comes to employment opportunities, "they said.
As per UGC notification, the university can perform the exam through offline/online or blended mode. However, as many students of GU-affiliated BEd colleges come from remote and rural areas, including teachers in the 50-60 age group, they demanded that GU hold BEd exams by assignment-based method and report the results in September 2020 itself.
The final year of the Cotton University (CU) open book review was conducted online even though the campus is closed. The final year undergraduate examinations began online at CU on August 18, 2020.
By doing so, the leading state university has become one of the very few institutions in NE to conduct the sixth semester of undergraduate examinations as mandated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
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"The question papers were uploaded to the student portal of the university website at the scheduled time of the examination. Students were required to log into their respective portal accounts using their enrolment numbers and passwords to download the question papers, "said the university spokesperson.
He said that a total of three hours-two hours for writing and one hour for IT-related work-were allocated for submission of scanned copies of answer scripts.
"Students are required to keep the answer scripts together with the undertaking and the declaration in a sealed envelope to be submitted to the varsity once it is re-opened for students," the spokesperson added.
On July 06, 2020, the UGC mandated that the final year of the university-wide undergraduate and postgraduate examinations be carried out before September 30, 2020.
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