21 detained MA (economics) students fail to take exam

Mohit Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 12

The fate of 21 MA (economics) first semester students at Panjab University (PU) hangs in balance after they could not appear for their first examination of macro economics today.

Two students, who visited the office of Prof Gurpal Singh, Chairman of the Department of Evening studies, said due to a prolonged illness, they could not attend their classes, hence they were detained. The students claimed that they had submitted medical certificates to the university yesterday, which were further sent to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for approval.

“The approval was given this afternoon but due to the delay in it, we could not appear for the exam,” said a student. However, the submission of medical certificates by the students at the last minute raised eyebrows.

Strange offer surprises parents

The MA (economics) students, who could not appear for their first exam due to the delay in the approval of their medical certificates, were shocked by an offer of the PU authorities. The incident took place on Friday when the students, along with their parents, visited the office of Prof Gurpal Singh, Chairman, Department of Evening Studies.  The parents demanded that to safeguard the future of students, a provision be made for conducting the exam later. Professor Gurpal, on the other hand, told the parents to go to the venue where the students were protesting and persuade them to lift their dharna. The parents alleged that Professor Gurpal told them that if they (parents) managed to convince the protesters, the department would think of making a special provision for conducting the macro economics exam. Perplexed by the alleged proposal, the parents were seen visiting the venue where the dharna was being held. They tried to convince the students but to no avail. When asked, Prof Gurpal agreed that the parents were sent to convince the students to end their protest.

'Never told about new norms'

The detained students continued to claim ignorance about new parameters of calculating attendance. "The experiment has led to a shortage in lecturers," alleged the MA students. From the last session, the PU had made it mandatory for students of evening studies to maintain 75 per cent lecturers in all subjects. “Earlier, we were to maintain an aggregate of 75 per cent,” said a student.

“The new circular was issued to teachers in October last year. Then it was issued again in January. However, the students were told about it in April only through a circular. The entire month of April was wasted in the fee hike protest and in May, we were told that we could not appear for the exams due to a shortage of lecturers,” said the MA (economics) students.

On the other hand, professors slammed the allegations, claiming that students were repeatedly told about the new format. The students said earlier professors were quite liberal with attendance. "Each year, by the end of a semester, all students used to get their lectures cleared," they said.