MU professors give up Christmas for assessment
According to university officials, close to 40 per cent of the assessment work has already been completed by the professors.
Mumbai: In an unprecedented move, Mumbai University (MU) professors have voluntarily sacrificed their Christmas holidays to assess the answer papers of the winter examinations in order to avoid any kind of delay in declaring results.
This is a voluntary decision as the university has not issued any such circular. The teachers have decided to go to colleges that have CAP centres and assess the papers. According to them, the marks that the students score in their winter examinations will help them in the placement season that begins in March/April.
Professor Jitendra Joshi said, “We as a group had decided not to take any long vacations or go somewhere outside the city during the Christmas holidays. During this time, we are going to CAP centres and assessing the papers so that the process of assessment and moderation is completed as soon as possible and results are declared on the scheduled dates.”
Since all the papers are assessed online, the teachers need to go to CAP centres where the on-screen marking system (OSM) is made available to assess papers.
The Christmas holidays are from December 21 to January 1, 2019. Generally, the university does not ask teachers to assess papers during vacations as their Diwali vacations are usually cut short due to the workload. “It is not a compulsion for any teacher. Whoever wants can do it. I, as a teacher, want the best for my students and hence, this is not a great sacrifice but just my part of the duty,” said another teacher, Anagha Sinha. In 2017 following the online assessment mess in the university, results were delayed for more than five months.
According to university officials, close to 40 per cent of the assessment work has already been completed by the professors. “The assessment process is going on in a speedy manner. In this short period, 40 per cent of the assessment is already over. With the help of our teachers, we could declare all the results before time,” said a senior official from the examination department.