Dehradun-based The University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), which has now metamorphosed more into a regular university, has signed up a third party platform, Mettl, for conduct of examination of its final year law students. Several students have expressed their discomfort and dismay over conduct of these online examinations. In a letter to the Uttarakhand Governor, Baby Rani Maurya, in capacity of her being Visitor to the university, students have sought her intervention.
The students say the university authorities are proceeding with a strict proctorial examination on a third party software in violation of UGC guidelines. Additionally, the students complain about the software platform which is disabling firewalls and antivirus protection while configuring their laptops. “We’re writing this mail to highlight our concerns regarding arbitrary online exams for graduating batch of UPES…kindly look into the matter and provide us some relief in writing our final exam as per the guidelines of UGC…”
The students say as they are ill-equipped with webcams and have varying Internet speeds, the lockdown have made it impossible to service their computers or buy accessories.
The students have also drawn attention of Union HRD to this issue. UPES has not so far reacted to this issue or issued any clarification.
