Sir,
Have you been consuming some sort of recreational medication? Your recent activities have caused not only me but dozens of students from the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Social Sciences, to doubt your sanity.
My semester examinations started on May 2 and were to end on June 2. First of all, university exams shouldn’t take this long.
I was supposed to take one of my English papers on May 25. But a little notification showed up on a notice board in some office. A picture had to be taken of it. The picture then had to be sent to every student with a WhatsApp number by the students who saw it because this 100-year-old ‘prestigious’ institution, often heralded as the ‘capital of knowledge’ does not have a proper online portal where students can get such updates on their own respective university email accounts.
This notification said that my paper had been postponed to June 7, as per the recommendations of the Coordinators of Examination, Faculties of Social Sciences and Arts. This was not the first time this had happened, it happened again when my English paper scheduled on May 27 was postponed to May 29 because the chief minister suddenly decided to visit the city and the university was the only place he could think of, to grace us with his presence.
Now, my psychology paper was supposed to be on the June 2, and it got postponed to June 9, then to June 10, and then to June 11. When the date of an examination changes these many times, there’s no doubt that your department is grossly mismanaged.
And these aren’t the only papers that got postponed in this manner. Students with subjects like education, economics, statistics, and a few others have faced a similar problem. And this isn’t the first time this is happening. A similar thing happened last year when some papers got postponed, and it was the honourable Prime Minister who decided to visit the city, and as expected, chose the university to grace with his presence.
Now, all cancelled railway tickets home aside, is it the perception of the university administration that the students of the Arts and Social Science faculties do no constructive work during their summer breaks, and hence, have a lot of time to waste, sitting here waiting to take their papers?
The Law Faculty wrapped up its examinations within 20 days, and many of my friends from there have already begun internships. Why are students from our faculties assumed to be undeserving of such opportunities in their field of study? I ask this because a longer examination does not necessarily mean a longer summer break so that we may apply and complete the said internships.
One might say that this whole fiasco happens because of the entrance examinations. My question is, why conduct semester and entrance examinations at the same time? Why does this happen year after year?
One thing is abundantly clear. Your department is highly incompetent and it would do us, the students of the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences, a lot of good if you resign. The university administration must conduct a thorough investigation into the reasons for such inadequate functioning of your department and make the necessary improvements.
Sincerely,
A student of the Faculty of Arts/Social Science
Banaras Hindu University
The author of this post wholly agrees with the views presented in the letter. However, the original writer of this letter chooses to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.
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