Mita Mukherjee

Students of Presidency University, Kolkata, have appealed to the authorities to postpone all online examinations scheduled for May and enable students to have online access to all academic resources available in the university in view of the crisis faced by students due to the Covid-19 situation.

The students have also urged the authorities not to force any student to attend the online classes.

“A large number of students of the Presidency University and their families are suffering from Covid-19.  For some affected students the situation is worse because of financial problems and lack of treatment facilities,” Debnil Paul, a first semester post graduate student of history department said.

At the same time, the online classes are in progress in all the departments and the mid-term examinations are also slated for May. Many students who are down with Covid are not sure whether they would be able to attend the ensuing online examinations or not.

Those who have family members tested Covid positive would also find it difficult to attend the online classes, the students said.

“So we have appealed to the authorities not to force any student to attend the online classes and postpone the online examinations,” said Debnil Paul.

Vice-chancellor, Anuradha Lohia said the authorities were aware about the students’ problem and they were looking into the matter.

“We have received the letter from the students. The heads of all academic departments have been asked to examine the students’ demand and take a decision accordingly,” Anuradha Lohia told EducationWorld.   

The campus is closed and students have no access to the libraries and journals for preparing for the mid-term examinations as well as for the semester end examinations to be conducted in July.

In the light of this situation, the students have demanded immediate online access to the academic resources available in the university. They have urged the authorities to give every class an institutional ID so that all students can access the online journals and books.       

“Many students of our university and their families have been affected. They are all going through a very difficult phase, both mentally and physically. In this scenario, it has become really difficult to attend online classes. Not everyone has proper internet access to regularly attend the classes. And all those who do, are finding it extremely difficult   to concentrate at the moment. We therefore request you to kindly take care that a pretty much flexible system of education is maintained. None of the students should be forced to attend online classes and are provided with enough study materials and help later on, if they need,” the Presidency University Students Union wrote in the appeal to the university dean of students.