Not heeding the student’s demand for online examinations, the Assam University has begun conducting the offline examinations for undergraduate courses from Tuesday.
The students of about 15 colleges had been protesting demanding that the university conduct online examinations in view of the rapid surge in Covid-19 cases.
The university authorities and Cachar district administration, however, cited official guidelines to reject the demand for online examination, a report stated.
The Assam University is situated in Silchar in Cachar district.
The students had launched a three-day protest in Cachar district from April 3-5 demanding online examinations.
They even gheraoed the Cachar deputy commissioner’s office and the police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) threatened them with lathi-charge to make them leave the premises.
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The district administration had imposed Section 144, imposed in the district on Monday ahead of the final phase of Assam Assembly elections in the state.
“Assam University authorities refuse to address our demand for online examination even when Covid-19 cases are increasing at an alarming rate. Will the university take responsibility if a student gets infected during the examination and dies?” said a student on condition of anonymity.
However, during a meeting with the Cachar district administration, the colleges affiliated with the Assam University agreed to conduct offline examinations.
“The university authority approached us to give an advisory on the safety issue involving holding of offline examination at present. Although India has been hit by the second wave of Covid-19, we are yet to receive instructions from the Assam government to stop holding offline examinations,” an official of the Cachar district administration said.