Jamia Millia Islamia: On December 11, several students protested outside the Vice-Chancellor’s office, demanding to eliminate the JMI online proctored exams that are supposed to begin from December 21, 2020.
A deputation of students attended a meeting with the chief-proctor and other Jamia Millia Islamia University officials, demanding that assignment-based examination should be conducted for the upcoming semester.
In the case of JMI exams to be held online, the proctor will use the student’s webcam and microphones to monitor the examinees. A proctored examination is one that is supervised by an approved and neutral person (a proctor) who ensures that the integrity of examinations is maintained and validates the identity of examinees.
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The students also proposed the online open book examinations as an alternative on December 11. The University officials, however, responded to it saying that too would be held in a proctored manner.
According to minutes of meetings issued by students, the officials have agreed to consider doing some part of external-marking, via the Google form-based exams which do not require high-speed internet and can conduct viva-voce over phone-calls.
The University also notified that a mock test of the JMI online proctored exams would be held on December 15 to examine the feasibility of online proctored exams in the University.
The protests on Friday started a day after the University had released a circular regarding the guidelines for the proctored exams. The circular stated that the students can appear for the JMI exams only via laptops/ personal computers along with ensured uninterrupted power and good internet connectivity.
The notification gave rise to outrage amongst the students who stated that this would be an injustice to the ones from remote areas in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Bihar. Several students from such are still relying on 2G internet and that is tough for them to continue their online classes.
On December 11, the Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted, “Spoke to Jaffrey Sahab, Controller examinations at Jamia about problems faced by students from J&K who have to take exams through proctored online mode. He assured to make necessary changes & suggested that students unable to take these exams by email.”
The Controller of Examination Nazim Hussain Jafri denied talking anything about the necessary changes but he stated that the University authorities had forwarded the grievances faced by students to the University Grant Commission.
He said that they had received the concerns of students on Friday itself and they are taking every problem into consideration and are waiting for the UGC to respond to the demand of students forwarded to the commission.
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