Hyderabad: Heatwave forces OU defer exams

Hyderabad: Students pursuing MBA and BCA courses in Osmania University and its affiliated colleges are dismayed at the sudden postponement of their exams scheduled for May 19 and May 24. The University authorities made the announcement just a day before the examinations were to be held, and gave the extreme heat and administrative issues as reasons.

This may give students more time to prepare, but final year students who have got placements and were to start their jobs in June will have to put that off. Students allege that this has happened before. Moreover, the postponement is only announced on the University websites and not via text messages to students.

The Vice Chancellor of Osmania University, Prof S Ramachandram, said the MBA exams were postponed as the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) was introduced for the first time and there was some problem in marking. “Also, it was a challenge to allot the centres. But the new schedule will be announced soon. The BCA exams were postponed due to the announcement of the heat wave conditions in the state.”

Sai Prakash, who is a final year MBA student, pointed out that the university could have administrative problems but at least they could have informed us earlier. It was a last moment announcement and we don’t even get such announcements through texts. We don’t check the university website at the time of examinations as we are busy preparing for the exams.

Paul Srujan, doing his second year MBA in OU, says students who may have wanted to enrol in various courses or sit for entrance exams will also be affected by the sudden postponement of the exams. “Foreign students who planned to leave soon after the exams can’t do so as the exams and results both will be delayed. We expect the University to inform us earlier of any change in plans,” he said.

M Naresh, a BCA student from Nizam’s College pointed out that there are only three colleges in the city which are providing BCA courses, and there are only around 500 BCA students in the university. “Can’t such a big university conduct examinations for such a few number of students on time? Postponing exams due to the heat wave is just an excuse. What about students preparing for competitive examinations or entrance examinations for postgraduate courses? How will they prepare if the new schedule of BCA and MBA exams clashes with other entrance exams?”