‘CONDUCT MED EXAMS ONLINE’

MUMBAI: Less than a week before exams are scheduled to commence, several students belonging to second and thirdyear medical, dental and paramedical courses have approached the state health education minister requesting that their exams be held online.

The May circular of the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) had clarified that pending winter session exams will be conducted in the offline mode between June 10 and 30.

“These exams have been postponed three times already, as it was not feasible to hold an offline exam at the time when the state is grappling with a pandemic. The situation is now worse with new Covid variants and emerging cases of black fungus. How is the state planning to conduct physical exams?” asked a student requesting anonymity.

Usually scheduled to take place in the month of DecemberJanuary, the second and thirdyear MBBS, BDS, and other paramedical and certificate course exams were postponed three times this year due to rising Covid-19 cases recorded across the state.

“To appear for exams, we will all have to travel to our college, then share hostel rooms with at least three other students and share bathrooms as well. What guarantee does the state or university give us that we will not contract the virus?” asked another student. Many have taken to Twitter to share their woes and reach out to authorities for help. Officials from MUHS, however, have assured maximum safety measures in place for upcoming exams.