NU to withdraw online exams, after Maharashtra's offline exam decision

In a recent meeting, the Maharashtra government has decided to take the summer exams for all universities in offline mode. The meeting was taken by higher education minister Uday Samant, talking to a news portal he said "We had already declared 30 extra minutes to examinees, as they have become habitual to the online model, and were short of practice in writing papers in pen and paper format. We also agreed to the VCs' demand of providing a two-day gap for every paper, and also for the distribution of question banks to students prior to the exams. The questions would be provided by the respective universities."

After this major development, the students were seen angry as some of the universities decided to take the exam in online mode. Now NU has to withdraw the decision by its Board of Examinations and Evaluation (BOEE), which had offered both modes for examinees, after protests by some student organizations. NU BOEE director Prafulla Sable told a news portal  "We will wait for the government notification in this regard before taking any decision."

"Many VCs said they were under pressure after NU's decision. When we asked VC Subhash Chaudhari, he said there was increasing demand from students. But I think NU authorities should not have taken such a decision in haste. It should have consulted the government and other universities," he added. 

Earlier, NU decided to conduct offline exams from April 25. After political pressure, it took a u-turn and provided both options, online and offline. Now, after the minister's pressure, it again reverted to pen and paper format. Is it option paralysis or decision paralysis," he said.