Unbowed and Unbroken
Written on November 21st , 2020 by {"login"=>"jcbitshyd", "email"=>"journal@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in", "display_name"=>"Journal Club, BPHC", "first_name"=>"", "last_name"=>""}It has been more than eight months since we have been living our college life in a virtual mode. It's ironic how the generation of engineering students who are mostly placed in IT firms cannot adjust to the very thing we have to work for. Now it is obviously not the fault of the students here. We come from different parts of the nation, and a lot of us belong to remote areas. With a pandemic going on, it is unlikely that all of us have the facilities which one needs to survive an online semester, or rather instate them. Even if we take a stable internet connection and economic affordability for granted, more strings are attached to this ball game. When it comes to evaluations being conducted using online means, one needs to have a regular supply of electricity and proper working devices, and it would be naive to assume that one could have that when there is a pandemic going on and the supply for these services are dicey. God forbid one's family has to suffer the mishaps the virus could bring upon them, but at the same time, we cannot ignore the fact that these are uncertain times, and no one knows their fate. As the semester approaches its end, it's time for the scheduled comprehensive examination that usually happens at the end of the semester. What's new is the means by which the students will be taking the exam, which is something new for the administration as well.
Pandemic and Compres?
Since the beginning of the semester, we all have been anticipating the reopening of the campus or a notification from the administration about the same. While the next semester has already been declared to be conducted using online means only recently, we must keep in mind the handout was prepared at the very beginning of the semester, and they were carved in a way to be followed till the end of the semester. The mail from the dean of AUGSD, Pilani, dated 10th August, mentioned that comprehensive examinations would be conducted on a particular online platform about which the students will be notified by 15th November.
At the start of the semester, the replacement of mid semester exams with three test series (with simultaneous classes and other evaluation components) was suspect at best. Coupled with the fact that there is only 10 days gap between T3 and compres and deadlines for either evaluative components made matters more stressful. This led to great suspicion as to if the semester would be academically adequate or focussed on passing tests only. T2, if not T1, brought these suspicions to rest- the semester was mostly about finishing the evaluative components with students complaining that questions were substandard and provided for little in terms of challenging the students academically. Lastly, the scheduling of these tests were also unsatisfactory as students had 2-3 tests on some days.
All of this led to only having one saving grace- a comprehensive exam that could adequately address the grievances the students had. This expectation was ended post the arrival of T3- a ten days long T3 with numerous assignments scheduled during and after the tests which has exhausted students mentally and physically. Coming back to the mail we recently received- we all have been speculating what online platform this might be. The recent mail from AUGSD might have put some of the doubts the students have to rest, there's minimal clarity about the privacy issues or addressing the complaints faced by the institutions which have previously used the same software.
Generally, comprehensive end semester examinations, given their weightage is a good chance for people to makeup or improve their scores of a course and hence improve the grade. But with an inefficient system in place, it would be difficult to do so. There's an argument of the averages skyrocketing because of students not maintaining academic integrity, but we have numerous cases where the students have been unable to take their evaluations because of genuine connectivity or hardware issues. It becomes the duty of the administration to figure out who those students might be who actually need technical assistance and device and alternate methods for them to keep the examinations fair for them.
Can we expect the administration to cancel or opt-out of comprehensive examinations? Well, unlike the last semester, which had a series of unprecedented events that led to us having the option to opt-out of compres or use precompre total for grading, we have not witnessed any such incident happening in this semester. So it would be impractical from their perspective to do so once again. However, it is not something that cannot be changed given the saturation level the students have reached. We do not intend to comment on whether the proposed idea by the general body is feasible, but it is something that has been done in the past, given the extraordinary situation at that point. Certainly, giving grades based on pre compre total would not be fair to a good chunk of students but is the administration even trying that? One can say that the academic burden is part of our college life. But so is our presence on campus, peer support, faculty interaction, gaining practical experience using lab sessions, fests, and whatnot. But every one of us has been compromising on that given the extraordinary and unprecedented times. So why can't that academic burden be eased for the same reason?
Today, the administration took another contentious decision that has sparked the ire of the Student Body whenit mailed the parents of the students- with a fair lack of context in their mail. For an outsider- the phrasing of the mail was partially disingenuous and to some, it felt like an attempt to hide the complete truth. The administration claimed to care about the mental health of the students. At the same time, simultaneously, they have a history of delayed miscommunications- as we saw with the closing of last semester and the beginning of the new academic year. For the majority of the student body- this is simply a harsh rejection of their concerns and demands. The student's retaliation to these measures is just the way they are expressing the concerns of their well being and frustration.
We have not only witnessed an incompetent academic structure this semester, which lead to overburdening evaluation with students resorting to unfair means as a result and lowered learning outcome, but also an apathetic attitude of the administration. While there are students who received makeup for the evaluations that they couldn't give on time, there are multiple cases where lack of resources has led to the grading being unfair for them. Some students have also mentioned that they didn't receive makeup even after suffering from the very disease that has caused the whole world to lock itself in their home. The fact that one's house can not be a place for learning when family members have tested positive and students of our age have to take as medical facilities everywhere in the pandemic isn't consistent, has also been disregarded. A seemingly fractured communication system between students, their student representatives and the administration is not helping anyone either. While we do expect that the concerns raised by the student body will be addressed in the upcoming semester, it is natural that there will be unrest amongst us when there is a lack of clear communication from the administration's side.