Calcutta University has announced a revised schedule for the first-semester undergraduate theory examinations, which were earlier deferred because of the Assembly elections.
The examinations will be held from May 11 to May 18.
Originally, they were scheduled from April 14 to 27.
A CU official said they hoped that security forces now occupying many college premises would vacate them by May 11.
“After the counting is over, the colleges require a few days to clean their campus. Classrooms have to be reorganised,” said the official.
The classes for the second semester cannot start until the examinations are held.
A notice signed by Jayanta Sinha, the university’s controller of examinations, says: “Candidates shall appear for the examination as per the revised theoretical programme with the admit cards that have already been downloaded by the
college and issued to the examinees.”
The revised schedule has been uploaded on the university website.
The decision to defer examinations followed reports from several affiliated colleges that they were unable to host examinations as their campuses had been requisitioned to accommodate central security forces deployed several weeks before the elections.
Around one lakh students were scheduled to write the exams between April 14 and 25. The first phase of the Bengal elections concluded on April 23. The second phase is scheduled on April 29. The results are due on May 4.
In Bengal, the central forces usually extend their stay beyond the counting days to manage the post-poll violence.
“Although we cannot rule out the possibility of the central forces extending their stay, we can not defer the examinations eternally. We have to hold the examination at the earliest so that the classes of the second semester can start,” the official said.
Siuli Sarkar, the principal of Lady Brabourne College, said the first-semester examinations were scheduled as late as April, as many students took admission late.
This happened because the education department asked colleges to admit students on their own on September 29 as tens of thousands of seats remained vacant.
The first-year admissions went on till November 7.
“These students who took admission late had to be prepared. So the university had earlier scheduled the examinations for April. But the polls came in the way,” said Sarkar.