Karnataka law students on warpath against KSLU, overnight protests seek withdrawal of offline exams

Law students, with leaders of @NSUIKarnataka, began overnight protests in front of #Karnataka State Law University in #Hubballi seeking withdrawal of the varsity’s decision to hold offline examinations. Suggests open book/assignment-based/ online exams instead. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/ZoCk7Swqwh

— Ralph Alex Arakal (@ralpharakal) December 7, 2021

KSLU had announced offline exams will be held for previous semesters, including for students who were promoted earlier without having to pass exams due to the prevailing Covid-19 situation. The varsity had, in November, clarified that intermediate semester students who were promoted to the next semester without exams would have to compulsorily appear for them at a later date.

“The promotion of students to next semester is only for the sake of admissions. These exams will be scheduled after the reopening of the colleges,” an official statement had mentioned then.

However, protesting students said that they were “not against the idea of conducting examinations but were against the varsity insisting that those need to be held offline.”

“The Vice Chancellor’s adamant nature of conducting pen and paper offline examinations has caused the academic year to be extended by six months. The university is conducting offline pen and paper examinations even though the Bar CounciI of India has allowed for any mode of examination such as online examinations or any other alternative mode of evaluation,” said Manish Govind Raj, General Secretary of National Students Union of India (NSUI) Karnataka.

A student from Bengaluru, who is at the protest site, suggested options such as open book, assignment-based or online examinations as an alternative.

“While classes for the previous semester could be conducted online, why is KSLU keen on conducting offline exams? If exams were postponed then due to the Covid-19 situation, the same persists even now,” he said.

Agitated students stressed that the “indefinite protests” would go on till a “student-centric” decision was made by the varsity. “KSLU is hiring senior counsel to fight their case and is trying to swing the court in their favour. The protests will go on until student demands are met,” Govind Raj said.

Meanwhile, data from the state Health Department indicated that the state’s active caseload was 7,067 as of Monday (December 6). The same was 6,878 a week earlier on November 29.