Students protest as PU changes exam schedule

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 17

Flustered with the lickety-split chop and change of exams scheduled for December 18, about 100 students from the Department of Laws, the UILS and the Department of Mathematics, PU, today staged a protest at the Administration Block of the varsity.

The authorities, succumbing to the demands of the students who threatened to shut the gates of the administration building, have now rescheduled the dates of the exams, which were to be held on Wednesday.

The exam for LLB (fifth semester) and LLM (first semester) will now be held on December 23, while the exam for BA/BCom-LLB Hons (five-year integrated course) will now be held on January 11. The exam of UILS students appearing for LLM (first semester) and LLM (third semester) has been rescheduled for December 20. PUCSC president Chetan Chaudhary said, “The exam date of the Department of Mathematics has been postponed from December 18 to December 20.”

The agitation, which lasted for more than three hours, was triggered by a quandary over the notice issued by PU authorities today morning, which was in continuation with the one released a day before where the varsity had postponed “examinations on December 18 to December 26”.

PUCSC vice-president Rahul Kumar said, “Yesterday’s notice stated that the exams, except MBA (Executive) and BE, scheduled for December 18 have been postponed to December 26. So, most of the students went to their hometowns. Most of them relaxed and did not prepare for the exams. Now, PU issued a notice that the exams that were to be held on December 18 will be held that very day. The students are nonplussed over such rapid changes.”

Meanwhile, at the CoE’s office, PUCSC president Chetan Chaudhary threatened to tear off the exam papers if the dates were not rescheduled. An SFS representative warned that the students would lock the gates of the administration block’s building if their demands were not met.

The Chief of University Security (CUS) and DSW reached the CoE office after the matter was brought to their notice.

Clarifying the issue, CoE Parvinder Singh said, “The circular released on Monday stated that PU rescheduled the semester examinations of December 18 to December 26, keeping in view of the boycott call by PCCTU and PFUCTO who are abstaining from examination assignments to protest against the delay in implementation of the 7th Pay Commission. The notice issued today was in continuation with the one released on Monday.”

New circular

The new circular reads: “In continuation to the press release dated December 16, it is for the information that the examinations for PU Honours School (Internal Exams) and other exams, which are conducted by departments at their own level and law examinations, including LLB, BA/BCom-LLB integrated course, LLM, will be conducted on December 18.”

Singh said, “Internal exams of PU, or Honours School examinations, are fixed by the departments themselves. On Wednesday, teachers of GNDU, Amritsar, PAU, Ludhiana, GADVASU, Ludhiana, and Punjabi University, were to boycott the exam duty, along with 60 government and 160 non-government colleges in Punjab and Chandigarh.”

Now, PUTA joins protest

The Panjab University Teachers Association (PUTA) has come out in support of HS Kingra and Jagwant Singh, Punjab Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organization (PFUCTO) president and general secretary, respectively. “As part of the ongoing agitation against the non-implementation of the 7th Pay Commission by the Punjab Government, the PUTA has given a call for boycotting all examination and evaluation work by all its members on Wednesday. This is a part of the wider agitation by university and college teachers of Punjab and Chandigarh under the aegis of PFUCTO,” PUTA president Rajesh Gill said.