Mumbai: Exam centre goof-up hurts MU students

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In yet another bungling during the exam season, the University of Mumbai's Institute of Distance and Open Studies (IDOL) changed the exam centre at the last minute last week, leading to students reaching over half-an-hour late for the exam. The students have demanded action against those responsible for the goof-up.

The incident took place on Tuesday. According to a source, a few of the TYBA fifth-semester students who had Elphinstone College in Fort as their exam centre made it to the venue on the scheduled time. On realising that their numbers were missing, they enquired at the centre and learnt that their exam venue had been changed.

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Later, they realised they had received a text message on the day of their exams informing them about the new centre, which was Wilson College at Girgaum Chowpatty. "In a rush to reach the exam centre and last minute revision, I missed seeing the text message," a student said. The students managed to reach the new centre, but by then they had already lost 30 minutes.

"It was a bad experience - not only did we reach late, it also took me almost 15 minutes to settle down, before I could start writing my exam," the student said. When contacted, an official from MU said, "Due to some technical issue, we had to change the exam centre. We had sent messages to the students on the night before the exam. If they did not see the message, it is not our fault."

Sanjay Vairal, the former senate member of MU, said, "We have written to the VC about these goof-ups happening in the last few days. This is unacceptable. Why should students suffer during exams?"