Postponing the
exams was a better option than answering it ‘offline’,since they didn’t want to
have it ‘online’. Even after continuous protests, letters to officials, the
students were lathi charged and detained. The University was adamant on having
offline exams up until the last day. That changed when the students took the
matter to the court and due to the unwavering unity of the student community.
What’s the use of risking our lives and having ‘no future’ at all?
Ps: Here’s where ‘education’ and
‘common sense’ come into play.
– Nicole Liza Fernandes, TYBA student, Panjim
Final Year students carried out a united 10-day
protest against the irrational decisions by GU, CM and Governor to hold Offline
Exams during a massive Covid outbreak which had engulfed students and teachers
alike. Despite the State Covid Committee declaring on 3rd January itself that a
move to Online is necessary for Edu. institutes, GU, defying all logic,
prescribed Offline Exams for Final Year students, despite allowing all other
students to answer Online. In the days that followed, NSUI, AAP Youth Wing,
ABVP took up the students’ cause, approaching GU VC, CM and Governor – to no
avail. NSUI leader Naushad led from the front, and his tireless efforts were
reinforced on 13th January by the Goa High Court, answering an appeal by Final
Year Law students. Offline Exams have now been postponed by 3 weeks. The sheer
scale of the mass student movement was unprecedented, but Goan Youth showed
Grown-ups why Democracy can never be reduced to De’Mock’racy…
– TYBA Honours student, Mapusa
The postponement of the examinations have of course
provided us more time to brush up, but as a final year student my main concern
is whether this term will end as scheduled or not. If we encounter more delays
then admissions for post graduation studies will be very difficult and so our
year will be wasted easily.
– Rosanne Fernandes, TY, Mapusa
Well, I feel like postponement of exams only leads
to an unwanted change in the academic year. Every student experienced it during
the first wave of covid but the worst hit were the final year students because
it led to a delay in the final exams and ultimately the results. Right now, the
year 2022 is looking quite blurry to us TY students because we don’t know when
exactly we’ll be graduating but I guess it is what it is. Online mode for this
semester end exams would have been better, in my personal opinion. So we could
just carry on with the scheduled year as planned.
– Shreeya Kudchadkar, TYBA Panjim
Giving the
student’s health and safety top priority was, in my opinion, a sensible
decision. Exam postponement is a righteous resolution provided it does not act
as a downside with the whole academic year being delayed. The pandemic has
already delayed our graduation by many months, and if it continues, the year
will be squandered. The last year dictates our next step in life; it begins a
new chapter, and we must graduate on time to focus on our future job
aspirations. If the number of cases in Goa increases, online exams should be
considered since life is too valuable to be jeopardised. As a student, I hope
the university takes a decision in favour of the students keeping their health
as a top priority
– Zainab Quadri, BAMC Panjim
So I’m kinda not happy with the postponement,
because for one it shifts the academic calendar, secondly national based exams
like NCC exams cannot get postponed and so now the dates are clashing, over
that going online was not an option because our degrees get devalued
– Joshua Raposo, TYBA Mapusa
