Mumbai varsity students and their ‘date’ with woes
Like Sunny Deol in the 1993 Bollywood film ‘Damini’, Mumbai University (MU) students are also shouting, “tareekh pe tareekh milti gayi, par insaaf nahi mila!”
For frustrated MU students waiting for their exam results, it has been an ordeal by fire. “Any process in the Mumbai University (MU) is slow and redundant just like any government office where new dates are given each time a needy citizen approaches for help,” claim students.
Upset and tired by the prolonged delay of over three months in declaration of results, students have shared their stories with Free Press Journal.
Students have said that they were eagerly waiting for the results of over 477 examinations in July but it is September now and still results of over 20 examinations haven’t been declared.
One of the students shared the mental trauma inflicted due to the delay, revealing to FPJ, “During the first few days when few results were declared, we would check the website every day in anticipation hoping that maybe the result of our course would be declared. This continued for weeks till we got to know that there is a new deadline. We panicked when our results showed ‘Absent and held in Reserve’ because we did not know what to do. We thought maybe we have failed or may be our papers our misplaced or our assessment is not completed accurately.
“These random thoughts cluttered our mind and our worried parents added to the mental stress. Obviously they were concerned about our future but they too had no clue how to rectify this problem. Then in addition some of us wanted to study at foreign universities or go abroad for job opportunities but we did not have our results.”
Rohan Joshi (name changed) said, “Following the mental pressure came the physical running around at the University campus trying to explain our situation to officers, teachers, clerks, watchmen, security guards whoever was willing to listen. We were ready to accept help from anywhere by any means. Then we approached the help desk set up by the university and fortunately the officers helped us expedite our assessment and process our results.”
Gayatri Iyer (name changed) discussed another aspect of the wait. She said, “‘Wait...we will do it in a few days...we are processing your result...it will take time…’ and ‘After all it is a process and it takes time.’ We hated these words the most. Ironically, we wanted them to take their time and process it accurately but on the other hand we also wanted our results in our hands as soon as possible.”
Fighting all odds, waiting in anticipation, protesting on the streets, flooding social media with requests and criticism, discussing with teachers, cooperating with officers and trying every ‘jugaad’ possible, these students have tired it all.