Months after the initial clamour from first-year students, the senior golden batch engineering students of colleges affiliated with Mumbai University are now raising their voices, demanding a unique lifeline: a special ‘carry-on’ facility as a one-time chance to salvage their academic journey.
These final-year students find themselves in a precarious position, fearing the prospect of losing an entire academic year. Their plea is underpinned by the protracted delays in result declarations by Mumbai University, which have thrown their educational trajectories into disarray.
The term “golden batch students” refers to those engineering scholars who, while transitioning from their third year to the fourth and final year, have accumulated more than the permitted number of backlog papers. These academic stragglers are now appealing for clemency, citing the egregious delays in result processing.
According to these beleaguered students, Mumbai University usually commits to announcing results within 45 days of the examination. However, a significant number of results, particularly those pertaining to the Allowed To Keep Term (ATKT) papers, have taken a staggering 150 days to materialize. This bureaucratic backlog has sown confusion and chaos among the student body.
One student, in a frustrated tone, revealed, “I have already embarked on my final year, yet the ATKT result was unveiled a full six months after the academic year commenced. Now, the college is disallowing me from participating in the fourth-year examinations due to the backlog of papers.”
Another student lamented, “Nearly 40 per cent of our final-year comrades are being forced to languish at home due to this nightmarish ordeal.”
Approximately 2,500 students have rallied behind this cause, and Sachin Pawar from Yuva Sena, the youth wing of the Shiv Sena, stands as their advocate. He asserted, “These students have been burdened since they secured admissions amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Their academic challenges were further compounded by the transition from multiple-choice question papers to traditional subjective exams post-Covid, leading to a surge in failures. They undoubtedly deserve a unique opportunity, a one-time lifeline, so that they do not forfeit an entire academic year.”
Pawar drew attention to the fact that universities like Savitribai Phule Pune University and Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Solapur University have already embraced similar measures. Yuva Sena has, therefore, penned a letter to Dr. Prasad Karande, the Director of the Board of Examinations and Evaluations at Mumbai University, conveying the students’ earnest demands.
In the midst of this unfolding drama, Dr. Karande, the key figure in charge of addressing these issues, remained unavailable for comment, leaving the fate of these beleaguered students hanging in the balance.
Earlier this year, in September, the spotlight was on first-year students who harboured a similar plea. The Campus Talk section of The Indian Express had duly reported on their predicament. Even professors from engineering colleges had rallied in support of these first-year students who grappled with a substantial backlog of papers while striving to get the academic year back on track after the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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