The Bombay High Court on Saturday, 26 September, refused to intervene in the Mumbai University’s decision to conduct final year examination for its undergraduate courses from 1 October.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni directed two students who had sought a stay on the examinations to approach the vice-chancellor.
The Mumbai University recently announced the schedule for the third-year final semester examinations, following the Supreme Court’s order that final year students can only be promoted based on examinations,
The exams will be conducted virtually, in a multiple-choice question (MCQ) format, between 1 October and 17 October.
The petitioners argued that the format was new and students and teachers needed training to get acclimated to it and that colleges must announce exam schedules at least a month in advance.
Minister of Higher and Technical Education Uday Samant has been receiving a lot of flak from student unions for assuring that students will receive question banks before the exams.
“A proper discussion with respected Mumbai University vice-chancellor Mr Pednekar was conducted. He declared that before MCQ exams students will be provided with a proper question bank two days prior to exams by the respective universities,” he had tweeted on 10 September. Several student unions held protests as well.
The University of Mumbai’s (MU) on 16 September issued a circular that only sample MCQs and not a question bank will be provided to students, reported The Indian Express.
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