Calcutta University has exempted some of its affiliated colleges from holding the undergraduate third-semester examinations due to the heavy presence of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) on their campuses, a senior CU official said.
In some colleges, the university has also reduced the number of examinees because of police presence, the official added.
The third-semester undergraduate examinations will commence on March 24 and continue till April 8.
The CU official said two colleges — Charuchandra College and Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri College — in south Calcutta were among those exempted from holding the examinations after their principals told CU that their buildings had been taken over by CAPF personnel.
At Charuchandra College near Lake Market, the paramilitary forces have been staying in the college building since March 3, while at
Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri College on Prince Anwar
Shah Road, they arrived on March 10.
The official said that in colleges such as Sarsuna College and Gurudas College in Phoolbagan, the number of examinees allotted had been reduced.
The allotment list has been downsized in as many as 12 colleges.
“We are trying various ways so that the exams can be held. The university is exploring the possibility of holding them on its own campuses as an alternative,” CU registrar Debasis Das said.
The teacher in charge of Charuchandra College, Anuradha Ghosh, said 404 BA/BSc candidates from Naba Ballygunge, Shivnath Shastri and Dinabandhu Andrews colleges had been allotted seats at her college.
For BCom, 423 students from Bhawanipore Education Society, Heramba Chandra and Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri College were allocated seats.
“The president of our college governing body informed CU that under the present circumstances, it was not possible to hold examinations. We have even switched to holding online classes as the CAPF personnel have occupied all classrooms,” the teacher-in-charge said.
“On Monday evening, the university authorities informed us that we have been exempted from the responsibility of hosting the examinations,” she told Metro.
When this newspaper visited the college on Saturday, it found that more than 100 CAPF personnel were staying on the campus.
They have set up camps on the premises. LPG cylinders have been stacked for cooking.
All the classrooms were occupied by the personnel.
The Election Commission deploys the CAPF to ensure peaceful polls.
Over the past few years, the CAPF personnel have been deployed in Bengal long before the announcement of the polls.
The election dates — April 23 and April 29 — for Bengal were announced on Sunday
The principal of Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri College, Pankaj Kumar Ray, said 450 students were supposed to write their exams there.
“Given the heavy presence of the CAPF personnel, we informed the CU authorities that the examinations cannot be held here,” said Ray.
Madhuchhanda Lahiri, the principal of Seth Anandaram Jaipuria College in north
Calcutta, said the university had downsized the number of examinees in her college.
“The CAPF are expected to arrive any day. They are likely to take over at least 18 rooms. We informed the CU authorities of our constraints. The allotment in our college has been downsized,” principal Lahiri said.
A CU official said that admit cards had already
been issued for the examination.
“There are colleges where CAPF personnel have not been deployed, and those colleges have been mapped. These colleges have to take on an additional burden. Then we are planning to hold the examinations on university campuses as well to manage the pressure,” the official said.
“We want to hold examinations as scheduled. Or else classes for the next semester will suffer,” the CU official added.