Students with ATKTs unsure of what lies ahead

Even if the state government provided some respite by cancelling the final year exams, there is one section of students which isn't relieved yet – those with ATKT (allowed to keep term).

As per the new rules, they too shall be graded along with everyone else for the final semester. But they aren't sure about how their pending exams from previous semesters – in which they had ATKT and were supposed to appear for during the annual exams — will be evaluated. With nearly two weeks passing by since the decision to cancel final year exams came out, there has been no clarity on whether students with ATKT shall get their final year degrees.

There are around 3 lakh students with ATKT in the final semester of varied courses across the state. According to the students, it is due to such confusion that there is no point in declaring 'no exams' for final year as many such aspects are yet to be cleared.

Just a few days ago, Mumbai University (MU) invited controversy by charging examination fees from students despite the cancellation of exams. "This is a result of vague orders as the government has not bothered to clear several aspects surrounding this decision. The government should have consulted academicians to come out with detailed guidelines to implement it starting from aspects such as ATKT, exam fees, issues of students with physical challenges among all. The state government has purposefully left ambiguity around examinations so that attention is diverted from the main problem of its inability to control the COVID-19 infection," said Siddharth Ingle, President of Maharashtra Students Union (MASU) which has written to the state government demanding clarity on the issues.

"The number of such students is no less for administration to not take cognisance of the issue raised. Students with ATKT are spread across courses and in all colleges. Even if these students get their final semester results, they will face issues later because of the 'pending paper record' on their mark sheets," added Ingle.

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