'Students for Justice', an organisation representing students pursuing distance education has blamed Calicut University (CU) for the step-motherly treatment being meted out to them

In a meeting attended by students from various long distance courses, many demands were raised. They have demanded that the liberty given to professors to evaluate their papers at homes be taken away and that the evaluation be conducted in centralised evaluation camps. The students have also pointed out anomalies being made in evaluation, resulting in mass failures.

The second-semester examination results for long distance courses were published in two consecutive lists. Some of the students who were declared failed in the first list were later declared as passed in the second list, but they had already applied for writing the supplementary exam by then.

"Many students who score high marks in their twelfth standard, join distance courses due to financial constraints. But they are being seen with prejudice as less talented, the committee said. Demand to lower the re-evaluation fees was also raised," Fayiz Ali, one of the office-bearer said.

He lamented that Calicut university had stopped private registration for students, stating UGC guidelines and transferred all students to distance education.