KSLU students may gherao Suvarna Soudha in Belgaum demanding cancellation of in-person exams

Students of Karnataka State Law University are likely to intensify their protests against in-person examinations with a possible gherao of the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha (Golden Legislative Assembly) in Belgaum on December 13. 

At present, the protests are led across nine districts of Karnataka by the Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India (NSUI) and the strongest amongst them is underway in Hubbali, where students are on a day and night dharna outside the university for the past five days. 

State General Secretary of NSUI, Manish Govind Raj, on December 11, said, "We are planning a Suvarna Soudha Chalo, which is gheraoing the Suvarna Soudha in Belgaum." The demonstrations are lined up as the Assembly session begins in Belgaum on December 13 where top Ministers, officials and MLAs will be present.

The decision by the students' outfit came after the varsity released a circular in which authorities decided to go ahead with the offline examinations as planned earlier. Following the intense protest by the law students, KSLU Vice-Chancellor Prof P Ishwara Bhat had announced that the examinations will be put on hold until a decision is taken. However, less than 24 hours later, a circular was issued stating that there will be no change.

It is noteworthy that the students are not seeking a free-pass from the varsity but only an alternative mode of assessment. "There has been a delay in the semester. We are against pen-and-paper examination only because it will take another one and a half months to finish all the exams and then another month for assessment," the NSUI Gen Sec said. The exams are scheduled for December 15.

Explaining the delay, he said that anybody who has joined KSLU in August 2020 was ideally supposed to finish one academic year by June or July. However, he added, "That person who joined in August is still in their first year, trying to clear their second semester. So almost one year and four months later, the first-year law course (and subsequent years) are still stuck." 

So what are the alternative modes of assessment to quickly wrap up the exams? One of the methods students are in favour of is the assignment-based exams, as prescribed by the Bar Council of India. "They can even go ahead with open-book exams as per BCI norms. There is also a comprehensive evaluation method that was taken up last year, which can be followed this year as well," Raj said. Students have taken the issue to the High Court, regarding the conduct of examinations and a hearing is scheduled on December 13.