The students of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), accompanied by their parents, held a demonstration at the primary campus at approximately 11.30 pm on Tuesday, May 2. The protest was against the altered assessment scheme, which resulted in numerous Commerce students failing their exam. As a result, they demanded an audience with the Vice-Chancellor of the institution to discuss their concerns.
Letter to the Union Education Minister
In total, more than 50 students and parents participated in the protest. Additionally, the parents of the impacted students have written to the Union Minister of Education, Dharmendra Pradhan, requesting his assistance in resolving the issue by implementing a backlog system.
The letter to the minister reads, "Generally, in a degree course, there is a facility to clear up their back papers within 3 years to get the degree, however, in this college and only commerce stream students are being detained and not allowed for the next year unless they clear the back papers (in the same year’s retest), this clearly shows their intention of money-making motives."
What happened at the protest?
When EdexLive spoke to a student of the institute who wanted to stay anonymous, he disclosed the details of the protest and claimed, "After more than two hours, we got an appointment to meet the Vice Chancellor of the University Ramesh Bhat, Controller of Examinations Ashish Apte and Pro Vice-Chancellor Sharad M." The meeting continued for more than two hours, and 20 members from the protesting group were permitted to attend. Of these 20, five were pupils, while the remaining 15 were parents of the affected students.
Giving more details of the outcomes of the meeting with the VC, the students alleged, "There was no satisfactory reply as the Controller was trying to deny the allegations being made." Moreover, "The students and parents were given two-three days time to submit the proofs for the flaws in the evaluation system," the student claimed.
As per the details shared by the BCom second-year student:
- 65 out of 140 failed in BBA/BCom
- Six out of 18 students failed in BCom second-year in Hyderabad
- More than 100 students out of 160 failed in BCom first-year in Navi Mumbai
- 34 out of 60 failed in BCom second-year in Navi Mumbai
Although the student was not sure about the number of students on the Indore campus, the student said around 185 failed.
What next?
"As the meeting was not fruitful, we are planning to meet the Chancellor of SVKM's NMIMS Amrish Patel after May 20," the student disclosed.
