Exams should be conducted in offline mode only: Tamil Nadu Higher Education dept

The higher education department on Tuesday issued a government order (GO) directing all higher educational institutes in the state to conduct all semester examinations from in physical mode. The GO said all higher educational institutions under the aegis of the department should conduct all examinations for the students in "offline mode" only since the active COVID-19 cases have declined in the state.

The offline examinations will be conducted by strictly following the standard operating procedures and COVID safety protocol. This applies to all Polytechnic colleges, Arts and Science Colleges, Engineering and Education Colleges and University departments. Officials of the higher education department said the decision to conduct a physical (offline) examination has been taken for the well-being and benefit of the students.

"The online mode of examination is doing no good to the students. It hardly has any value as students mostly copy and write in the online examinations. This is not good for their future," said a senior official of the higher education department. Teachers of government colleges have supported the decision and termed it necessary. Tamil Nadu Government College Teachers Association, President, T Veeramani said, "Due to online mode of education and examination, the students are suffering from massive learning loss. They are losing their ability to write long answers and some are even struggling to read properly. It is necessary to return back to the physical mode of examination to ensure that our students are gaining knowledge."

Some teachers are skeptical that the government colleges don't have adequate infrastructure to conduct examinations following social distancing norms. "Many government colleges are still functioning as COVID care centres due to which we may face a shortage of classrooms to follow COVID protocols properly," said a teacher of a government college. However, the higher education department officials said that they have extended the duration of conducting examinations so that colleges can conduct exams in a staggered manner.