Pune: The Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) will form a committee to clear all doubts and queries of students and parents regarding the final year examination option. Vice-Chancellors of various universities are virtually meeting on Friday to discuss the 'optional exam' issue and will soon clarify all issues.
The Senate meeting of SPPU was conducted virtually through video-conferencing on Thursday. It was first-time in the history of the Senate that the meeting was conducted online. While discussion on other topics was postponed, the only topic which was discussed in the senate was that of confusion due to the state governments decision of giving students the option of appearing for final year examinations. Senate member Dr Shyamkant Deshmukh demanded that the senate should discuss this issue and the university should clarify to all about how the exams would be conducted and what would be the criteria to promote students or award them degrees.
Dr Deshmukh said, "There are a lot of issues which need to be clarified. How are the examinations going to be conducted, on what basis marks will be given to students, will students be discriminated while giving degree certificates, what decision has been taken regarding students with a backlog of subjects? The university should give clear answers regarding these questions."
Other members Sanjay Kharat and Bageshree Manthalkar said, "Students and parents are in a dilemma about what would happen if they appear or don't appear for the final year exams. They all are under stress and the university should address their concerns."
Vice-Chancellor Dr Nitin Karmalkar responded to questions of senate members. Karmalkar said, "We will form a committee to find answers to all these questions at the earliest. A meeting of all vice-chancellors of various universities is scheduled on Friday in which the optional final year exam issue is going to be discussed. We will soon arrive at a decision."
Some Members Boycott Meeting
Some members boycotted the online proceedings of the Senate meeting alleging that it lacked proper planning. The Senate meeting was conducted online for the first time, as a physical meeting could not be planned due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Don't take us for granted
Some members criticised the university administrations lackadaisical approach. A member said, "The university administration does not reply or answer to the questions and letters sent by the senate members. Is the administration taking us for granted? We had requested to take the senate meeting offline, but we did not receive any reply from the administration. Earlier too we had sent letters which have gone unanswered."
