Jadavpur University mulling alternative ways to evaluate students amid COVID-19 lockdown

Jadavpur University on May 14, sought the views of all heads of departments on way to complete 100 per cent evaluation in the semester examinations without having all the students present at the campus at a time or adopt online methods in order to maintain social distancing norms amid COVID-19.

Jadavpur University on May 14, sought the views of all heads of departments on way to complete 100 per cent evaluation in the semester examinations without having all the students present at the campus at a time or adopt online methods in order to maintain social distancing norms amid COVID-19. According to JU's official statement, the University sought views of its engineering department's faculty on giving offline home assignments to final semester students as part of the evaluation process. 

An official of the University stated, "Even if the lockdown is lifted we have to consider factors like maintaining physical distancing while seating them in classrooms and that all students cannot be accommodated in a single room at any one point of time. Again many of our students cannot afford advanced smartphones and have poor net connectivity at home due to their remoteness." 

The poor internet connectivity and lack of smartphones among students made the engineering faculty and the university authorities thinking of alternative ways of evaluation during the lockdown like home assignments and viva over the phone. The official further added, "We are actively considering if final year students can be given home assignments partly through e-mail and WhatsApp as even if some students may not have smart phones or laptops at home. They can get the study materials from their friends, neighbors, family members or functioning cyber cafes." 

Elaborating the proposed plan, the official said, "The students can do their assignments on paper and send the picture through his or any close contact's WhatsApp number or mail to the engineering department." He further added, "With the pre-final semester cumulative grade point average of every student taken as the point of reference, the home assignment score will be counted in the final semester tally as per the proposal."

The Vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University expressed that the University will come up with a decision that will suit each and every student and that there will be no digital divide. He further added, "We have to take into account the fact that many of our students will not be able to avail online class facilities. So JU will always take into account their situation."

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