Why Presidency University students don't want entrance exams to be cancelled even amid the pandemic 

Students of Kolkata's Presidency University have opposed the decision of the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations Board (WBJEEB) to not conduct admission tests for undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the institute from this year, officials said.

The JEE board has been conducting the admission tests for Presidency University’s UG and PG courses and that for evening five-year engineering courses at Jadavpur University. The board had recently announced that it would not hold such tests for individual institutes from this year.

“We condemn the interference of the state government in the decision-making process regarding the entrance examinations of Presidency University,” the institute’s students council, controlled by the Students' Federation of India (SFI), said in a statement. “We call for strong protests against the violation of the autonomy of Presidency University and the cessation of entrance examinations,” SFI leader in the varsity Debnil Paul said.

The announcement of the joint entrance examinations board came after the government directed the state universities in a virtual meeting to admit students for undergraduate courses solely on the basis of class 12 board marks. Though no formal notification has been issued so far, higher education department sources said.

The Independent Consolidation, another students’ body in the premier institute, criticised “the government’s move to interfere in the academic affairs of the premier institute” and demanded the WBJEEB conduct the entrance tests – PUBDET and PUMDET.

The admission tests for UG and PG courses at Presidency University were slated for August 7 and 8. An official of the varsity said the authorities will soon announce an alternative mechanism for getting admissions in the institute after consultation with the higher education department.