such regulatory clauses by certain colleges in the city for the online examination has become a major cause of concern for students
In some colleges, the permitted limit of calls is two while in some it's three
Getting a call while appearing for your final year exams? Your session could well be terminated.
Yes, this is one of the regulatory clauses for online final year examinations by some city colleges which has become a major concern for students. According to them, turning off app notifications is possible but getting a call is completely out of their control. Even if they inform people to not call, they might get spam calls due to which they could be thrown out of the system for no reason.
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In some colleges, the permitted limit of such calls is two while in some it's three and the candidate will have to re-enter the system to complete the paper. If they exceed the limit, the candidate will be out of the system. But even as there are a number of permitted attempts, there is no clarity on how the lost time will be compensated for the candidate.
"My college has clearly stated that any incoming or outgoing calls would be considered a violation. All notifications will be considered a violation. And if I cross the permitted limit, I will be terminated from the examination. For this, the college has given clear instructions on how to shut notifications for all apps such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, Facebook. I am thinking of uninstalling all apps to be on the safe side. But what do I do if I get a call? I won't receive it, but the session will pause for that time as there will be a notification pop-up on the screen which, too, is considered a violation," said a student from Vaze Kelkar College, requesting anonymity.
A final year student from Sathaye College said, "With any pop-up notification, the session will be put on hold. This means we will be losing that much time. Will we be compensated for it? Will that be decided on a case by case basis? There are many such questions and importantly, their answers differ for different colleges. There is no one clear regulation on these aspects."
"Except Mumbai University (MU), all other varsities in the state have a single set of regulations regarding conducting final year exams. Here, everything is put on colleges and the practices are bound to differ. This is only confusing students. Moreover, mock tests have become very important. While some colleges have started it and are tackling the glitches, in many colleges no mock tests have been held yet," said Siddharth Ingle, President of Maharashtra Students Union (MASU) which has been demanding clarity on the process for a long time starting from asking question banks from universities so that students know what they are studying for.
MU, Director of Board of Examinations and Evaluations, Vinod Patil, said, "Security guidelines are more or less the same for all colleges as per varsity instructions. However, as every college is using different software, there may be some changes. But students need not panic."
ATKT exams begin amid chaos
As the varsity began its ATKT (Allowed To Keep Term) exams on Friday, students were plagued by technical glitches, with many missing out on their chance to appear for the exam due to lack of the required link to the system. The examination of the Life Sciences department was supposed to begin at 10 am, but till noon many students had not got the link. "The varsity has outsourced the work to an agency which is supposed to keep students' data, their mapping and sending all links to the system with login ID etc. But, there have been several issues in this process and they were exposed today," said a source from MU which has decided to give another chance to such students who faced technical glitches.
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