Many ideas, no consensus

Suggestions flew thick and fast at a meeting called by the Mumbai University on Wednesday. College principals and university department heads deliberated on ways to compensate for the 36-day loss of classes owing to the teachers’ strike. The idea was to reach a consensus on the best way to bring the academic session back on track.

“We listened to the principals’ feedback and their suggestions. We had wanted to see whether a consensus would emerge,” said university vice-chancellor Vijay Khole.
There was no consensus, but quite a few suggestions emerged. Based on these, the university will now prepare a plan, which will have to approved by the academic council for its implementation.

Skip hols, Sundays Some said work during vacations and on public holidays. Some suggested classes every Sunday, others proposed it should be alternate Sundays. “However,quite a few felt that working on Sundays and public holidays would be taxing for the students,” said Khole.

“Some said that instead of making up for the exact number of days lost, colleges can henceforth take extra lectures every working day. Some objected to it, saying it will be stressful for the students. Moreover, some colleges work in shifts. Extending lecture timings will not be feasible for them,” said a principal.

Combine semesters
There were suggestions that terms/semesters should be extended. Others were of the view that it would be best if the first term exam was scrapped. They proposed combining the two terms and conducting just one exam towards the end of the academic year.
“The Mumbai University ordinance does not allow us to scrap an exam. So, we may have to extend the term and accordingly, decide the exam dates,” Khole said. Opposing the single exam idea, a college principal said, “Perhaps, it would be too much for the students to cover the full syllabus at one go.”

Do it individually
Some suggested that the colleges, individually, could draw up the plan of action as per requirement, but the proposal was rejected. The university said that some sort of uniformity was required.

Not all were on strike
Some of the principals pointed out that not all teachers of all colleges were on strike. Hence, the university may have to explore an alternative strategy for such institutions, including the government colleges. The university said the   colleges claiming that their teachers were not on strike, or had been for a lesser duration, would have to show evidence like records of students’ attendance. The best possible solution is likely to emerge at the academic council meeting next week. “The university will have to keep a record of whether the loss has been duly made up by the colleges,” said Khole.