Student unions oppose MCQ model final e xam

Student unions have opposed the decision of conducting University of Mumbai (MU) final-year exams only through multiple-choice question (MCQ) mode stating it is not feasible for students pursuing non-technical programmes. Final-year students state that different modes of exam such as open book or assignment based should also be considered along with MCQ.

Students state that the university should consider other modes of exams because MCQ model cannot be applied to all programmes. Urmila Yadav, a final year media student, said, "We do not have definite or exact answers in most of our exams. Most of our answers are lengthy, subjective and based on explanations, comparisons or examples. How are we supposed to appear for MCQ mode? What will we learn from such an exam?"

Fahad Shaikh, a final-year Sociology student, said, "The university should not stick to one mode MCQ because there are different formats in various Undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) programmes. MCQs may work for technical courses but not for courses which have theory-based syllabus. We need to consider multiple options for the mode of conduct of exams."

The Maharashtra Students Union (MASU) has written a letter to the Chief Minister (CM) dated September 8 recommending, "The 100 marks exam paper should be for 50 marks in the form of MCQ or optical mark recognition (OMR) or open book exam (OBE) for 90 minutes. The remaining 30 marks can be open choices assignment and 20 marks presentation based. Students can send answer papers via WhatsApp or email."

Siddharth Ingle, founder president of MASU, said, "It has been over 10 days since the Supreme Court (SC) directed that final year exams should be conducted. Students are still waiting every day to get some clarity regarding conduct of exams, mode and time-table. The state government should also include suggestions from student unions regarding conduct of final exams." The decision regarding final mode of exams is awaited from the state government.

Students said that the university should consider other modes of exams because MCQ model cannot be applied to all programmes