Following the SC order upholding the direction from UGC or University Grants Commission to conduct terminal semester examinations, Tamil Nadu Higher Education department is considering online tests for the students.
On Saturday, the higher education department conducted a meeting with the vice-chancellors of the state universities to discuss conducting final year semester exams online. The duration of the examinations plus the type of questions were discussed at the meeting. Objective type questions were suggested by many vice-chancellors and some wanted both objective as well as descriptive questions based on the subjects.
For conducting online examinations for all subjects, the universities in TN might require a question bank. Preparing question banks would take time and hence it was suggested that the question banks be shared across universities.
It was brought to light by an official who took part in the meeting that the vice-chancellors wanted to conduct examinations before 30th September.
He then spoke about the use of schools and colleges in case students have issues assessing digital services or face connectivity issues etc. It must be taken into account that Anna University or AU has been preparing for online exams for the last 2 months and it is said that AU is ready to conduct examinations in the next 2 weeks.
Exams would be one hour long and there would be objective type questions. Before giving suggestions to the higher education department, universities would likely discuss the issues with faculty members and affiliated colleges. Truth is the government would issue common guidelines for online examinations after it receives suggestions.