Students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar are raising their voices on social media in protest against the institute's decision to conduct online exams for final year students. IIT Bhubaneswar, in an official notice released late Wednesday, said that the institute is conducting “two alternative examinations“ one from June 24 and another from either the last week of July or the first week of August. The institute, in the same notification, has asked students unable to take online exams due to lack of modem, smartphone and such devices, to “acquire facilities to take online examinations at home or from a nearby facility”.
IIT Bhubaneswar, in the notification, said: “IIT Bhubaneswar's Senate has decided to conduct the End Semester examinations for the outgoing students by on-line mode to facilitate their timely graduation. The decision in favour of holding the examination was taken by the Senate to graduate the students as per rules and without compromising on the standards of performance assessment.”
IIT Bhubaneswar students have taken to social media to express their discontent with the decision. In a mock test taken in May, the institute had asked students to be prepared with three devices, a laptop and two smartphones with internet connection, to attend the examinations. The second smartphone was to be used for invigilating purposes.
Students also said that the administration was “slow” in deciding exam dates and will cost them their jobs at such a time of distress.
Here we have collected a bunch of social media posts by IIT Bhubaneswar students.
Some pointed out that not all students will have the facilities to attend online exams.
It's not rocket science to understand that not every student is equipped with 2 phones with
— Phoenix_1729 (@1729Phoenix) June 3, 2020
different networks, and a laptop with a broadband connection and they cannot guarantee
zero power cuts. The mock test was a mockery. #SaveIITBBS #NoOnlineExams@HemantaTOI @ndtv
#SaveIITBBS @DirectorIit @iitbbs
— Bheem Singh (@bh33mSingh) June 4, 2020
Most of the students come from a weaker economic background and forcing them to have 2 smartphones with 4g internet and a laptop with a different broadband connection so that they can give examinations is violation of the right to education. https://t.co/KovSJgn8SG
Despite poor reception from the student's fraternity, who are facing problems like poor
— hari (@hari61233055) June 3, 2020
internet facility and unavailability of high-end hardware for conducting online examination,@iitbbs boasts of the facility for "seamless" exams. Shame #SaveIITBBS
The pathetic online exams by @iitbbs require a laptop with webcam, a seamless wifi connection, two phones with different network operator's internet & UPS connection for power backup amid lockdown. What more do u want, a datacenter? #SaveIITBBS #NoOnlineExams
— Raja (@Raja61671609) June 3, 2020
Others pointed to the "failure" of the mock tests done in May.
Don't know exactly why the admin of IIT BBS is not relying on assignment based evaluation. What will be the difference in conducting online exams even after knowing that the previous online mock test was a complete disaster. #SaveIITBBS @timesofindia @ndtv @republic https://t.co/Poyx0u1RGO
— Krishnarchan P Borah (@Krishnarchan7) June 4, 2020
@iitbbs
— Help IIT Bhubaneswar Students (@nickul28) June 3, 2020
wants us to be entrepreneurial and wants us to attempt exams on @Wheebox
, a buggy platform where logging in takes around 30 minutes inspite of all the above accessories. Moreover, the majority of students who have Linux system can't use it. No alternatives provided 4/n
.Despite the terrible failure in the mock test, our own @DirectorIit now planning to conduct online examinations with the stupidest rules ever. Is this the way the so called world class institute @iitbbs treat their final year students ? #SaveIITBBS
— Khoder (@Khoder48563553) June 3, 2020
The online examination platform is very faulty. It requires a great deal of logistics which aren't available in a situation like this! I couldn't even attempt the mock examination, and @iitbbs expects us to ace it. #SaveIITBBS https://t.co/77QTbMGtbm
— Bhoomi (@Bhoo__mi) June 3, 2020
While some final year students complained that the institution is not worried about the future as pushing the exams late can cause concerns for their career.
18.@DirectorIit isn't considering the careers of students despite the ongoing crisis of layoffs and offers getting revoked. His only motive is a mere PR stunt of conducting an already proven flawed examination method. #SaveIITBBS #NoExams @nsui
— Student A@iitbbs (@StudentAiitbbs1) June 3, 2020
We are not understanding y we studied this hard to get into @iitbbs just to leave our jobs so that @DirectorIit can experiment his online exams software on our future???#SaveIITBBS #No_online_exams
— hello (@hello52581764) June 3, 2020
