KARACHI: Amid protest by students on the second consecutive day on Karachi University (KU) campus, the university administration notified on Wednesday holding of semester exams according to its earlier announced schedule, albeit giving authority to respective in-charge of various courses to decide about the mode of examination.

According to a university notification dated Sept 16, the mode of examination will (now) constitute a combination of in-person and online system of evaluation to be decided by the course in-charge.

The decision, the notification states, was taken in the deans’ committee meeting held on Wednesday.

Sources, however, told Dawn that no consensus emerged in the said meeting called by the acting vice chancellor to see deans’ response to the in-person semester exams announced by the administration from Sept 21.

The sources said that while a few participants informed the vice chancellor that they were ready for in-person semester exams as teachers in their departments had completed their online courses, the dean science representing 22 departments said he couldn’t give an opinion on the matter till he got data on the online classes in a meeting scheduled in his faculty for Sept 17.

At this stage, sources said, the vice chancellor cited a recommendation of the Higher Education Commission of adopting a “hybrid model of evaluation” constituting both in-person and online tests as well as evaluation of assignments.

The meeting, sources said, concluded without reaching a consensus and the university released a notification later in the day.

The day also saw a large group of students protesting against “poorly conducted online classes” and the university’s decision to hold semester exams from Sept 21.

The students demanded that since they were not given the opportunity to interact with teachers during the online classes, their performance should solely be measured on the basis of assignments given to them during the online classes.

It is important to mention here that the university administration has been taking serious academic decisions with far-reaching consequences instead of calling a session of the academic council — the statutory body representing university teachers of all cadres including lecturers, assistant professors, associate professors and professors.

It last met on June 5 in a “controversial” online session after which the university notified holding online classes against the backdrop of Covid-19 pandemic.

The plan, sources said, had seen strong criticism from teachers as the administration didn’t consider the alternative teaching plan developed by a committee of senior teachers.

Meanwhile, a general body meeting of the Karachi University Teachers’ Society scheduled to discuss the same matter couldn’t attract adequate numbers of participants and the meeting will now be held next week.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2020