The Bar Council of India on June 2nd 2021 constituted a has constituted a High Level Expert Committee comprising of 12-members to decide the method of evaluation of law students in intermediate semesters during the covid-19 pandemic. The Committee chaired by former CJ of Allahabad HC - Justice Govind Mathur will submit its report to the Delhi HC within one week .
https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/bci-law-students-evaluation-expert-committee-175080 [img]https://images.assettype.com/barandbench/2021-01/95928fda-6777-4e1d-be8d-53b42b08b703/Press_Release_dated_02_01_2021.pdf[/img] Accordingly respecting the Press Release dated 2nd June 2021 by BCI- Symbiosis Law School postponed indefinitely the end term examinations scheduled tentatively from 3rd June 2021
SLCU however continuing it's long tradition of defying student interests- violated it's own notification CU:OR:Notifications:05/21 dated 7th May 2021 the University informed students that "The examination pattern for these examinations will be notified two weeks prior to the examinations by the Controller of Examinations."
In email on 4th June 2020 - students were informed of the following-
Dear Student,
The details of ESE are as follows; ESE- 30:20 Model ( written:viva)
ESE Written exam is from 21/6/21 to 3/7/21. Question paper pattern: 3 questions with internal choice will be randomized & given to students. on mettl platform. Only UPLOAD. NO type. Can upload about 5 pages- 30 MB. Duration: 2 hours & 30 min only for upload at the end. Follow strict seating instructions as given by COE. Orientation for the same will be scheduled on 7/6/21, Monday.
VIVA (ONE -TO- ONE) INSTRUCTIONS: Total Marks: 20 DATES- 14/6/21 TO 19/6/21-However, as many teachers will have combined classes to conduct the viva- it may start early- from 12/6/21. Duration: 10 minutes Recorded Viva Session Portions for Viva: Full Syllabus Students are required to turn on video and audio Must be in formal attire Not appearing for Viva at the scheduled time will be marked as absent
The problems with the notice are as follows- 1. Students have only 6 days to prepare for viva 2. Some teachers have released study material only yesterday 3. Emails sent to university remain ignored 4. Management is adamant on conduction of examinations 5. Management is insensitive to mental health of students 6. Management is holding exams , despite a Committee constituted by BCI on the same after pleas by student bar associations
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ON THIS - UNLIKE NLU'S STUDENT BAR ASSOCIATIONS CHRISTITE'S CANNOT OPENLY DEFY THE UNIVERSITY DUE TO FEAR OF COERCIVE ACTION AND EXPULSION !!
Please do not post this here. It concerns the reputation of the college and gives the impression that there is no dialogue. Dialogue is always welcome but you have to first clearly give your views in writing in a reasonable way and suggest good alternatives also.
If the way Christ listens to its students is what you call a dialogue then Manmohan Singh was the most outspoken prime minister in this history of India.
Please - students have tried dialouge which doesn't work
1. We have emailed the institution huge number of times on issues like fee collection , charging us for online exams last year to name a few and the management is always unresponsive
2. The University continues to violate it's own circulars with impunity - Eg Clause 15 (b) of CU:OR:STU:06/20 mandated that "b. In order to maintain similarity in standards of testing with the online examinations starting 13 July 2020, these on campus examinations will also be for two hours and online in the computers labs of the University with buffer time of 20-30 minutes to accommodate typing ease and uploading options. But the University later imposed offline pen paper for students who backed out
3. Repeatedly the issues of fee collection and exams were raised through the student council and dismissed
4. Decisions taken by the Univerisity have always been arbitary not guided by student interest , under the garb of institutional autonomy 5. The amount of fear the university excercises ensures that students have to resort to anonymous platforms to raise their voice
The Alternatives -
1. Wait for the BCI to release guidelines on the same its literally a week 2. Follow alternate modes of assignment developed by NLU-Delhi and JGLS to name a few 3. Reimburse students for internet costs borne by online classes like NLS , NALSAR and HNLU 4. Conduct a student survey to see how satisfied students were with online classes
Point no. 4: there is no need to conduct survey for satisfaction with online classes. The students are happy with "online examinations" because they are not being invigilated by their teachers. They may not be satisfied with online CLASSES but always satisfied with online EXAMINATIONS. And for ensuring online examination they can malign their college, the principal, admin, anybody.
wow please so teachers can just read off ppt's call that teaching- burden us with huge number of asynchronous , min 85% attendance mandate (contrary to UGC norms ) , do not give us study material , on top of all this students with no institutional support are excelling in moots , ADR , research publications - and in the end we are expected to again study with no fuss ???
Literally while the BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA is deliberating alternate modes of assseement after student bar associations from across the country wrote about mental health - the university has the audacity to put it's foot down and conduct exams ?
Please it's not maligning atleast here students can express their emotions about the college which only sends "mental health" emails and does literally nothing to listen to students literally a long pattern -check below (University has banned Youth Ki Awaaz website from all it's servers after articles were posted against it so much for right to dissent)
1. Curbed students who were protesting against dress code ,
The meeting conducted was futile. SLCU is and always has been arbitrary. The students received a mail stating that a viva will be conducted from the 12th of June, 2021 at 12:00 am today.
After a meeting with the HoD, the faculty proceeded to schedule viva without cutting down the syllabus. The paper pattern has been changed to written from typed.
When a notice of one week is given to give examinations, no amount dialogue in any format is valuable.
This is absolutely arbitrary and unreasonable and SLCU is known for doing the same without taking opposing views into consideration.
PLEASE THE UNIVERSITY FILES FIR FOR AN ONLINE VIDEO SAYING ITS DEFAMATION , SHOULD STUDENTS BOOK THE VC FOR VIOLATION OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT ACT FOR TRYING TO HOLD OFFLINE EXAMS DURING THE PANDEMIC ???????!!!
This post has only been put up after making efforts to have a dialogue with the university which proved to be unsuccessful. They turned a blind eye towards all our concerns and requests. The meeting was useless and not even a single concern was addressed. The functioning of the university is grossly mismanaged, unorganized and arbitrary. They want to protect the sanctity of examination but in the process they are violating the sanctity of education. It is only the students of the university who know how syllabus was simply brushed through with no concrete teaching due to the paucity of time. They have shown respect towards their students as well as teachers. In this process the mental health of most students and teachers have taken a toll. The management of the college has been grossly fumbling with the examination process creating a lot of confusion and instability for the students affecting their studies, internships etc.
But there is no dialogue. The HoD had a meeting with only some representatives (who are btw appointed by the management only) and kept defending the directive of the college. She also deferred any further communication about the exams till monday. This is a great tactic to discourage students from voicing their opinions and force the exams on them. It is a dialogue when more than 1 party talks, which is never the case with SLCU. SLCU has strict rules on what "hierarchy of communication" has to be followed in cases of grievances and we are not allowed to directly approach any higher ranking official.
And I dont understand what reputation are you talking about. SLCU has always been in the news for never considering the opinions of the student body. They didnt think about the reputation of the students who are currently interning and will have to withdraw from their offices suddenly, without any prior intimation. The college does not provide the 1200+ student body with enough internship opportunities already and when students are working on their own, the college does not care how their actions will reflect on the students reputation. Do they have any clue, how unprofessional will we be considered to ask for almost a month long break for intermediate exams? Reputation of Christ is already in tatters for imposing strict attendance policy and Asynchronous assignments on its students. If they want to save it they should start listening and actually conduct a dialogue. Invite all students to talk and listen to their grievances.
Never join this University. 1. They change the academic calendar 4 times in a semester 2. They release the academic calendar 1 week before the academic semester 3. They force you to sit in auditorium on Sundays for hours without food and washroom 4. They refuse to have any dialogue, listens to nobody, not even the BCI
How important is the reputation of a college that is so hell bent on making our life miserable. The mail regarding our Viva starting from 12th came at yesterday. We get 6 days to work on 6 subjects that also includes 3 core subject like CPC and CrPC. They don't care about us and you want us to care about their reputation. WOW.
Hi! Thanks for the suggestion, however it is evident that if there was sufficient dialogue on any level, none of this would have happened in the first place. What dialogue was done before the management decided to throw these double exams on us? No, this so called 'sTudEntS cOunCil' was just informed, ordered to convey the information. We feel a lot of problems increase due to the management trying to save this reputation. On the other hand, it wants to come back on us with vengeance for speaking up. We are not allowed to unionise, our protest rights are taken during admission and whoever speaks up, is 'taken care of' in one way or the other. We all know the stories. I apologise if this came out in a hostile tone, but we've been suffering for far too long. We try to speak up under aliases and anonymity. Just so our basic NEED of mental health does not plummet. It's safe to say, we are agitated. And yes, we are going through proper channels as well. Thanks for understanding. [img]https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/meme/images/0/0f/Pepefroggie.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20191013165106[/img]
Why do we pretend like dialogue works at SLCU? Any self-respecting institution should intuitively understand that giving their students a 7 day heads up isn't enough
Really messed up no one should go through this only because they decided to join the said University. Mental health of the students matter and no institute or University can say otherwise.
Our mental health is gone for a toss My college (Christ college Bangalore) are not postponing the exams. It’s really a very big burden considering our online classes were not that Efficient Please I would like you to postpone our exams
That is all the students are asking. To show some compassion as well at the same time. Preparing for the main exams is tough enough given how the format keeps changing with every exam the college has held. To hold viva plus written exams is quite a strain during this time.
Hey why don't you write to the chairman of bar council ? Manan sir. Or please join us (students) who are constantly protesting against the arbitary treatment. At Sls also number of things were done against the students. However we fought against it and let BCI chairman know about it.speak up guys. We are law students we cannot lose infront of arbitary treatment. We have to fight for our rights. We deserve life with dignity. Our mental health matters.
Already written mails and sent it to him as well as a lot of other relevant email ids. But as we have seen earlier Christ doesn’t listen to us, so we need to write our opinions here! We need other people to support and raise voice against Christ!!
Its not even 24 hours that Christ has sent this notification and students have expressed their disagreement with this in all ways possible. We have written to BCI Chairman and Secretary both and have sent it to UGC too. Awaiting response from them now.
Did you ask BCI: why BCI did not issue guidelines for April 2021 examination? Did it notify that the law colleges are free to decide the modes of promotion?
Please note the BCI Press Release dated 2nd June 2021 it clearly states that the reason the BCI formed the Committee in the first place is that because
1. The Karnataka HC in January 2021 struck down the BCI Notification that mandated holding compulsory end term exams ( so legally the university has no power to impose exams) 2. Law Students wrote to BCI to evolve alternate modes of end term assessment given the stress of online classes and the covid-19 pandemic
The BCI HAS NOT notify that the law colleges are free to decide the modes of promotion. The Press Release states that the BCI will take a call on the Committee's recommendations and inform the same to "all centers of legal education" SLCU is a center of legal education and is regulated by both the BCI and UGC and has to abide by the same instead of opening flouting rule of law
Every college was given an option to break the exams into two components assignments and exams .. but that was done to make it easier for the students during these difficult times.. what the said college has done is.. made it into two components which is viva and written exams.. without seperating the portions.. they haven't given enough notice before fixing the viva dates aswell... Now the students have to study the same subject twice.. they have only made it more difficult ...
I had to see my closed ones go in and out of the hospital from one ICU bed to another. From managing finances to health, students are under a lot of stress. SLCU cares only about conducting exams and being done with it. We were informed today that the teachers would be conducting three vivas in one day. This induces much more anxiety as the students are required to cover the entirety of the syllabus.
Firstly, we were informed that the exams would start from the 22.06.2021. Last night we get a mail stating that the viva which forms a part of the end semester examinations would commence from the 14.06.2021, and they tell us that this might get preponed to 12.06.2021. This leaves us no opportunity to study or prepare for our examinations.
Some teachers are scheduling vivas on the same day also. There is no system of organising vivas as of now and teachers are not making it any easier. Most of them want to get done with it as early as possible, which is resulting in 3 out of my 6 professors scheduling it on 12th June.
All the notices, notifications and mails quoted in the first message are TRUE. those are simple facts brought forward to show how the administration failed to understand and respect the student's concerns and requests. Their misdirected and mismanaged approach can be proved through this.
They claim that they are not superhumans. They are just humans and we need to sympathise with them. Well we have been doing that since the last one year and they have done nothing to reciprocate our efforts and sympathies. Rather they have just contributed to make our situations worse.
So if they really are HUMANS, please understand that the students are also just HUMANS and not ROBOTS because the way the administration expects the students to do things it seems that they have mistaken the students to be ROBOTS.
Stop defending the administration by asking us to sympathise as they are just humans because so are the students.
The University has never addressed the mental health of the students and things favourable for the students. Even though we were told that we'd be 2 weeks notice at least, we just got to know a week before they scheduled the viva. Throughout the last semester a batch was only taught by the LLM students and they were subpar to say the least. And now they're getting away with only giving us slides and other 'material'. No notes, nothing. We don't even have access to books. Now the justification they keep giving is academic integrity. Even Symbiosis Pune cares more about students. Shame.
MismanagementCollege refuses to listen The university notifies us about our internship break 1 month before the internship break and for exams, they are notifying us 8 days before the scheduled Viva blatantly preponing the dates against its own notification. The academic calendar has changed 4 times for one semester. As law students we don't know when to intern and when we start interning as per their schedule, they prepone it shamelessly.
Alternatives- 1. Please stick to the erstwhile schedule 2. Cut down the portions 3. Postpone the viva 4. Cancel the viva and adopt the pattern recommended by BCI 5. Give us an option to avail relaxations and do not mark us absent ; give us a fresh attempt
There is no "dialogue" between the management and the students because that would require the management to actually listen to what students have to say. This is not a college, this is an autocracy. The fact of the matter is that they do not listen to us because they simply do not care. So many students have been affected by the second wave, people have lost loved ones and everyone is coping the best way that they can. Giving students 7 days notice for viva is unnecessary, arbitrary and in poor taste given the current situation.
Hahahahaha I'm reading so many comments by either the student lackeys of the management or those in the management themselves calling students out for voicing out their concerns.
To this day, there is NO representation of the student body's will or opinion in any decision making process. Our concerns are never addressed and we are treated like mindless cattle who have no choice but to heed all orders in silence.
The student council is a sham consisting of mainly students who are cherry-picked for being respectful and subservient to the management. Even if they do voice out our concerns, they are paid close to no attention.
The audacity of individuals to suggest there is actual dialogue with students and that our concerns are heard is condemnable and disgusting.
Slcu doesn't even ask its student body for suggestions. Preponing exam seems like a way to escape the obligation to listen to bar council's instruction. Preparing full syllabus of subjects like cpc, crpc, limitation, e commerce and 3 more subjects is a huuuge task.
Slcu is solely responsible for disturbing my mental health.
After writing so many Asynchronous assignments, CIA1, mid semester exams, CIA 3 we are being told to give viva and written exams as well. We didnt complain against it earlier because the exam pattern broadly is not unreasonable. But the timing and the manner is. People are still dying of covid. I have just recovered from covid, days back and now I have this tension too. Somebody should tell Christ and especially SLCU to stop sending us mental health emails, because we all know it is a charade. This uni does not care about or empathize with its students.
It's been a tough month for a lot of us while most of us have taken a hit financially a lot of us have taken an emotional hit. Many of us lost loved ones parents friends and neighbors. As we were recovering from that we have been given 1 week to prepare for an entire sems syllabus. I don't know in what mind the management was when they took such a desicion. The BCI was going to realise their guildlines in a few days. This clearly shows how much christ university cares about the student body #ripmentalhealth
After a very annoying semester of subpar teaching (if you can call reading from ppts teaching) and writing so many assignments, slcu wants us to give a 10 minute viva for 20 marks and write exams (literally) for 30 marks. I had so many important subjects this semester, but in the name of teaching we were told things that i would have known by simple googling. I wish I could have send videos of my cpc professor "teaching" here. Low standards of teaching and teachers but they want high performance from students. Hypocrites!
This admin doesn't care, everything is opaque. They just want us to maintain our attendance, they don't even care about giving us actual education. What a pathetic excuse of a law school.
Yes. This is very traumatic to all the students,and viva is being conducted on a very very short notice. Although the cases have come down,many are still facing unprecedented challenges stacked up against them,which are invisible to the management. Mental health is just a term in black and white.
It's ironic and funny how for a law school, Christ prevents its students from speaking up against the institution and threatens dissent with expulsion and other methods that impact our careers.
The center of examinations is an absolute joke. I'm pretty sure they're butthurt that their "tech savvy full proof" option of hosting the exam last sem was exploited by most students. Now they drastically change the pattern as a way of getting back to us. We were intimated of the division of mark between VIVA and Examination only yesterday.
Time and again, this joke of a university has had blatant disregard for the student community. There's no open dialogue. There's always undue influence when you speak up or stand for something.
People are losing their lives, students have lost their parents, siblings, friends, neighbours, acquaintances. The only thing CHRIST is bothered about is conducting the examination.
It's time for the BCI to reign in on Christ, because currently Christ is a rabid dog on a fragile leash.
Well said. The worst thing is that the COE (examination head of Christ) is concerned because students are scoring more. This is absurd that Christ administration doesn't want its students to score. I think the "reputation" that is being talked about is the fact that Christ admin prides itself on not marking Law students for more than 70 marks. It gloats on the fact that if a teacher is scoring a student for more than 70 in a paper they have to justify why did they do that. This discourages teachers to score students more.
What they dont realise is that this way they are hampering the chances of students who want to go abroad for their LLM. 70% marks is mandatory in some colleges in UK to access scholarships. And Christ, due to their irrational stubbornness, stomps away on every chance a student has, to get out of the trauma this garbage college has given us in the name of "college life."
This viva and written exams system is to ensure students score less. This will definitely lower my marks and make me less eligible for a admission as well as scholarships. I think we should stop comparing this situation to Symbi's postponement, because it has become very apparent that Symbi cares about the well being and future of its students, whereas Christ doesn't give a damn about it.
1. If not publicly, then how? Student council members are the most useless entity in Christ and they are the only ones authorised to talk. Teachers are not listening to our grievances. On the contrary they are all making the vivas more difficult by not helping us at all.
2. What is the problem with going public? When SLCU compares itself with colleges like NLSIU and JGLS or even Symbi, then it should act reasonably like them too. I have never heard anybody say from NLUs or Jindal that they have been told to keep quiet and get on with it and feel "lucky" to be in a high ranking college. Christ isn't even that highly ranked.
3. Comparison with poverty is next level whataboutism and I request you to only reply to this using logical arguments.
4. Also, if you are so concerned with poverty, please let us know your thoughts about the fee policy of Christ.
Again, this is majority opinion that it is completely insensitive and tone deaf on the college administration's part to increase the fees at this time, when they have not given us any facility in the past year, despite taking full fees AND wont be providing us with any facilities in the coming year as well.
5. We dont have time to be patient! That is the entire point!! We barely have a week to prepare 6 heavy duty subjects, give a viva and sit for an exam for which "strict sitting rules" will be told to us. I request anybody who is reading this to NOT be patient.
6. I understand that people in administration may also have faced some personal tragedies. However, that doesn't excuse them to harass us in this way. If they have faced problems in the pandemic, it doesn't give them a right to give us more problems to deal with. This just makes Christ administration look apathetic. I am very sorry for their loss but that doesnt allow them to play with out future.
Please the university has keenly almost all nirf statistics for the last 3 years and not uploaded the same despite mandated to do by the MHRD , Govt of India.
If its statistics you are so proud of heres the hard facts as per NIRF 2019-2020 data
For UG- the Univeristy could place 129 students out of 246 graduating students with a median salary of only 470000(Four Lakh Seventy Thousand). This is dismal compared to the amount we pay each year.
Also - 1. Student Council meetings are secretive and no minutes of meetings is published 2. School of Law is the only department in Christ University that does not have a student exchange program 3. No funding for moots , ADR and other competitions 4. No Gold medals during convication (only 2) unlike other law universities 5. Meagre electives that are taught by sub-competent faculty 6. No engagement with university alumni 7. No placement statistics published by the University 8. No effective scholarship that funds students for full tenure of study (unlike NLU's and other Universities ) ( SLCU gives 5000 as a scholarship amount) 9.No Research Centres
ONLY ON PAPER WE HAVE A NIRF RANKING- REALITY IS MUCH WORSE THE LIST GOES ON AND ON !!!!!!!
Also, Christ and SLCU have this rank because of the hard work of all its students. The number of competitions we have participated in and won is entirely our effort. We do it year after year without any financial, mental or academical support of college. They even have strict rules to claim attendance. So if we are studying in a highly ranked NIRF college, I would be grateful to my fellow batchmates, not the college administration.
I am a Law student studying in School of Law, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore. Through this mail, I would like to bring to your notice the very recently announced, unreasonable and completely oppressive End semester examination policy of my University, where students have only been given 1 week to prepare for both viva and written exams only for 50 marks, without even interacting with the students and knowing their thoughts about the same.
Earlier in the semester, the University announced that they are going to conduct offline exams in the campus itself. They stood by this directive even as cases were rising across India and in Bangalore. Pursuant to internal requests by the student body, they announced on 18th April, 2021 that the exams have been postponed to June or July and will be conducted on campus. This period was previously supposed to be the School of Law's internship break, so many of the students scheduled their internships for the months of May and the first weeks of June.
Then, on 7th May, 2021 they communicated to us that the dates have been fixed as 21st June, 2021 to 3rd July, 2021. This is why most of us planned to continue our internships till 15th June. Additionally, it was stipulated if a department has internships as a part of the programme, which is the case with the School of Law, exams can be conducted in July. In this notice it was stated that there will be a viva-voce as an "important component of the exam." The student body scheduled their internships and planned preparations for their examinations accordingly. On 2nd June, 2021, the time table for our end semester exams was published on our 'Knowledge Pro' (KP) accounts which stated that the exams will be starting from 22nd June, 2021 to 3rd July, 2021. This gave us the presumption that our viva will also be taking place during this period, as nothing contrary to this was mentioned there.
However, on the midnight of 4th-5th June, 2021, we received a mail regarding the instructions about our examinations, which stated that the viva is going to start from 14th June, 2021 to 19th June, 2021. It is to be noted that this the first time any date before 21st June has ever been mentioned by the University in any official communication. The viva has been announced without informing us anything about the dates or even that they will take place before the written exams. Apart from this, teachers have the liberty to conduct vivas even before 14th if they teach combined classes (i.e. more than one section of a batch), starting from 12th June. This effectively gives a student 1 week to prepare for the full syllabus of 6 Law subjects, for both viva and written exams. The instructions sent to us are extremely troublesome, for reasons stated below:
1. The student body was given no prior communication about the dates of the viva and the fact that the viva is going to be including our entire syllabus.
2. The viva schedule has been given at a very short notice of 1 week which is not enough for preparation, when 4th year students have subjects like Civil Procedure Code, Law of Limitations, Criminal Procedure Code, Interpretation of Statutes, Law of E-commerce and 2 electives in their 8th semester itself.
3. If a student misses their Viva slot for any reason, they will be marked absent. This is problematic considering the troubled time all students across the country are going through. The University is also not considering the fact that the viva is going to be taken through Webex and a student who might be facing internet problems or other technical difficulties, might lose the opportunity to appear for their viva entirely.
4. Most students are in the middle of their internships and it will be very difficult for them to bail out from their internships at such a short notice. I am interning as a Research Intern right now and if I have to start preparing for these exams, I'll have to drop my internship right now.
5. In the written examination, we have been instructed to Upload the pictures of our answers. For the past 2 end semester exams that we have given online, we were told to 'Type' our answers directly on the Mettl platform and this system was completely fine by the student body. Now this rule has also been changed, without any reasoning, completely ignoring the technical difficulties this might bring up.
Our University has been following the Asynchronous form of teaching and learning and due to that, we have submitted almost 80 assignments in the last semester, only to claim attendance. This is exclusive of all the other exams we have given in the form of Continuous Internal Assessments (CIAs), such as tests, research papers, mid semester open book examinations and other assignments, for 50 marks. Now, the imposition of such a strict end semester examination pattern acts as an additional burden on the student body. The students of School of Law are extremely active on the co-curricular side of legal education, be it participation and meritorious performance in moots, ADR competitions, publications etc. We do not get any attendance or assignment exemption from College for participating in these activities. Managing all these activities along with academics is already difficult and now the end semester exams are going to hamper our internships. This is completely unfair, unjust and unreasonable.
I understand that the Bar Council of India announced that they are going to release guidelines for conducting examinations for law colleges across India, on 2nd June. Keeping this in mind, the notification from my university and my department seems like a deliberate attempt to cause unnecessary stress to the student body and to conduct exams as soon as possible to avoid the potential orders passed by the BCI.
I am personally very aggrieved by this pattern of examination on such a short notice. At this time, when many students lost their loved ones and are under extreme duress, emotionally, physically and even financially, this move by my college is insensitive and tone-deaf. As the regulator of exams for law schools across India. I request you to intervene in this matter and direct School of Law, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore to postpone the exams till BCI has come up with guidelines of their own. The student body of School of Law in intermediate years consists of more than 1000 students and this irrational examination policy will affect all of them. I fervently appeal to your office to take immediate and swift action in the best interests of students.
Please find attached all the official communication and notices sent by the college that I have referenced in the mail.
80 assignments in the last semester?! That's almost around one assignment a day. If this is true then CU is far more rigorous then the likes of NLS and NLUD.
Yes, 80+ assignments for claiming attendance. They are called Asynchronous assignments. Apart from that, every month Christites give CIAs i.e. Continuous Internal Assessment. there are CIAs, 1st one assignments or tests or both, 2nd mid semester exams which are open book, and 3rd research paper or long assignments (we had to make a bill from scratch for one subject this sem lol)
SLCU students submitted 80 daily assignments, 12 marked assignments and 6 mid sem open book exams for 50 marks. This viva and written exam is for the other 50. All this while maintaining 85% minimum attendance (even in online format) and winning god knows how many moots, ADRs, trial competitions, presenting papers everywhere and doing publications. All this without any support of our college.
The system is wayyyyy more rigorous than any law school in India, be it private or government.
Christites have it hard, SLCU students have it harder.
Note: 1. Pls send this from your private email ids. 2. Attach your own time tables to the mail and other docs. 3. If you are not in the 4th year, please change the subjects listed in the mail too. 4. Don't forget to write your name at the end. It is suggested that you only write your names and nothing else. 5. Write "URGENT- Intermediate class exams on short notice" as the subject line.
This is just a draft, you can add or delete any statement that you wish. Act quickly guys, we dont have much time to get this BS cancelled!
We are law students guys..if anybody is telling us to not make this injustice public and to stay silent, remember you'll be betraying your education and your profession by keep quiet.
I'm done being silent about all these things that we have been subjected to in SLCU for the last 4 years. I cannot emphasize how much my mental health has deteriorated in law school. I hope all my fellow Christites will rise to the occasion and raise their voices too!
Hey guyz Please sign this petition regarding the end sem examinations which will be sent to the BCI within 2 days. More the signatures, more support. Lets give this a last try!!
hey please submit your petition ASAP - we have already 300 signatures - thats almost the min mumber Delhi University students had when they submitted their petition . The Committee will submit it's report tommorow to the Delhi High Court mostly.
This university is SO inhumane, that they didn't let us host covid 19 relief fundraisers. Obviously they don't give a flying f about students', staff or anybody's mental health. Why would they?
https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/bci-law-students-evaluation-expert-committee-175080
[img]https://images.assettype.com/barandbench/2021-01/95928fda-6777-4e1d-be8d-53b42b08b703/Press_Release_dated_02_01_2021.pdf[/img]
Accordingly respecting the Press Release dated 2nd June 2021 by BCI- Symbiosis Law School postponed indefinitely the end term examinations scheduled tentatively from 3rd June 2021
SLCU however continuing it's long tradition of defying student interests- violated it's own notification CU:OR:Notifications:05/21 dated 7th May 2021 the University informed students that "The examination pattern for these examinations will be notified two weeks prior to the examinations by the Controller of Examinations."
In email on 4th June 2020 - students were informed of the following-
Dear Student,
The details of ESE are as follows; ESE- 30:20 Model ( written:viva)
ESE Written exam is from 21/6/21 to 3/7/21.
Question paper pattern:
3 questions with internal choice will be randomized & given to students.
on mettl platform.
Only UPLOAD. NO type.
Can upload about 5 pages- 30 MB.
Duration: 2 hours & 30 min only for upload at the end.
Follow strict seating instructions as given by COE.
Orientation for the same will be scheduled on 7/6/21, Monday.
VIVA (ONE -TO- ONE) INSTRUCTIONS:
Total Marks: 20
DATES- 14/6/21 TO 19/6/21-However, as many teachers will have combined classes to conduct the viva- it may start early- from 12/6/21.
Duration: 10 minutes
Recorded Viva Session
Portions for Viva: Full Syllabus
Students are required to turn on video and audio
Must be in formal attire
Not appearing for Viva at the scheduled time will be marked as absent
The problems with the notice are as follows-
1. Students have only 6 days to prepare for viva
2. Some teachers have released study material only yesterday
3. Emails sent to university remain ignored
4. Management is adamant on conduction of examinations
5. Management is insensitive to mental health of students
6. Management is holding exams , despite a Committee constituted by BCI on the same after pleas by student bar associations
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ON THIS - UNLIKE NLU'S STUDENT BAR ASSOCIATIONS CHRISTITE'S CANNOT OPENLY DEFY THE UNIVERSITY DUE TO FEAR OF COERCIVE ACTION AND EXPULSION !!
1. We have emailed the institution huge number of times on issues like fee collection , charging us for online exams last year to name a few and the management is always unresponsive
2. The University continues to violate it's own circulars with impunity - Eg Clause 15 (b) of CU:OR:STU:06/20 mandated that "b. In order to maintain similarity in standards of testing with the online examinations starting 13 July 2020, these on campus examinations will also be for two hours and online in the computers labs of the University with buffer time of 20-30 minutes to accommodate typing ease and uploading options. But the University later imposed offline pen paper for students who backed out
3. Repeatedly the issues of fee collection and exams were raised through the student council and dismissed
4. Decisions taken by the Univerisity have always been arbitary not guided by student interest , under the garb of institutional autonomy
5. The amount of fear the university excercises ensures that students have to resort to anonymous platforms to raise their voice
The Alternatives -
1. Wait for the BCI to release guidelines on the same its literally a week
2. Follow alternate modes of assignment developed by NLU-Delhi and JGLS to name a few
3. Reimburse students for internet costs borne by online classes like NLS , NALSAR and HNLU
4. Conduct a student survey to see how satisfied students were with online classes
They may not be satisfied with online CLASSES but always satisfied with online EXAMINATIONS. And for ensuring online examination they can malign their college, the principal, admin, anybody.
Literally while the BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA is deliberating alternate modes of assseement after student bar associations from across the country wrote about mental health - the university has the audacity to put it's foot down and conduct exams ?
Please it's not maligning atleast here students can express their emotions about the college which only sends "mental health" emails and does literally nothing to listen to students literally a long pattern -check below (University has banned Youth Ki Awaaz website from all it's servers after articles were posted against it so much for right to dissent)
1. Curbed students who were protesting against dress code ,
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/protest-at-christ-university/articleshow/53489412.cms#:~:text=On%20Friday%2C%20around%20250%20students,were%20videographed%20by%20the%20administration.
https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2016/08/christ-university-ex-student-speaks/
2. Hushed up sexual assual allegations , suspended teachers who speak up , haven of internal politics where students suck up to management
https://indianzeal.in/thestudent/articles/christ-university-the-haven-for-sexists-despots-and-pervy-professors.html
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/bengalurus-christ-university-has-stifled-those-who-stood-sexual-harassment-student-writes
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/christ-university-in-the-dock-blog-by-ex-student-reveals-sexual-harassment-333580-2016-08-05
https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2016/08/ex-christite-with-an-opinion/
https://bengaluru.citizenmatters.in/stand-up-for-your-daughter-5553
http://theladiesfinger.com/caused-second-coming-christ-college/
https://www.edexlive.com/news/2017/oct/25/me-too-a-lawyers-initiative-to-name-academicians-guilty-of-sexual-assault-brings-58-prominent-name-1421.html
https://www.arre.co.in/gender/raya-sarkar-sexual-harassers-list-sexual-harassment-whisper-network-kavita-krishnan-kafila-statement-feminism-karuna-nundy/
https://www.lawctopus.com/christ-bangalore-law-school-rant-murky-politics/
After a meeting with the HoD, the faculty proceeded to schedule viva without cutting down the syllabus. The paper pattern has been changed to written from typed.
When a notice of one week is given to give examinations, no amount dialogue in any format is valuable.
This is absolutely arbitrary and unreasonable and SLCU is known for doing the same without taking opposing views into consideration.
And I dont understand what reputation are you talking about. SLCU has always been in the news for never considering the opinions of the student body. They didnt think about the reputation of the students who are currently interning and will have to withdraw from their offices suddenly, without any prior intimation. The college does not provide the 1200+ student body with enough internship opportunities already and when students are working on their own, the college does not care how their actions will reflect on the students reputation. Do they have any clue, how unprofessional will we be considered to ask for almost a month long break for intermediate exams? Reputation of Christ is already in tatters for imposing strict attendance policy and Asynchronous assignments on its students. If they want to save it they should start listening and actually conduct a dialogue. Invite all students to talk and listen to their grievances.
1. They change the academic calendar 4 times in a semester
2. They release the academic calendar 1 week before the academic semester
3. They force you to sit in auditorium on Sundays for hours without food and washroom
4. They refuse to have any dialogue, listens to nobody, not even the BCI
We feel a lot of problems increase due to the management trying to save this reputation. On the other hand, it wants to come back on us with vengeance for speaking up. We are not allowed to unionise, our protest rights are taken during admission and whoever speaks up, is 'taken care of' in one way or the other. We all know the stories.
I apologise if this came out in a hostile tone, but we've been suffering for far too long. We try to speak up under aliases and anonymity. Just so our basic NEED of mental health does not plummet. It's safe to say, we are agitated. And yes, we are going through proper channels as well. Thanks for understanding.
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My college (Christ college Bangalore) are not postponing the exams.
It’s really a very big burden considering our online classes were not that Efficient
Please I would like you to postpone our exams
Its not even 24 hours that Christ has sent this notification and students have expressed their disagreement with this in all ways possible. We have written to BCI Chairman and Secretary both and have sent it to UGC too. Awaiting response from them now.
1. The Karnataka HC in January 2021 struck down the BCI Notification that mandated holding compulsory end term exams ( so legally the university has no power to impose exams)
2. Law Students wrote to BCI to evolve alternate modes of end term assessment given the stress of online classes and the covid-19 pandemic
The BCI HAS NOT notify that the law colleges are free to decide the modes of promotion. The Press Release states that the BCI will take a call on the Committee's recommendations and inform the same to "all centers of legal education"
SLCU is a center of legal education and is regulated by both the BCI and UGC and has to abide by the same instead of opening flouting rule of law
All the notices, notifications and mails quoted in the first message are TRUE. those are simple facts brought forward to show how the administration failed to understand and respect the student's concerns and requests. Their misdirected and mismanaged approach can be proved through this.
They claim that they are not superhumans. They are just humans and we need to sympathise with them. Well we have been doing that since the last one year and they have done nothing to reciprocate our efforts and sympathies. Rather they have just contributed to make our situations worse.
So if they really are HUMANS, please understand that the students are also just HUMANS and not ROBOTS because the way the administration expects the students to do things it seems that they have mistaken the students to be ROBOTS.
Stop defending the administration by asking us to sympathise as they are just humans because so are the students.
The university notifies us about our internship break 1 month before the internship break and for exams, they are notifying us 8 days before the scheduled Viva blatantly preponing the dates against its own notification.
The academic calendar has changed 4 times for one semester.
As law students we don't know when to intern and when we start interning as per their schedule, they prepone it shamelessly.
Alternatives-
1. Please stick to the erstwhile schedule
2. Cut down the portions
3. Postpone the viva
4. Cancel the viva and adopt the pattern recommended by BCI
5. Give us an option to avail relaxations and do not mark us absent ; give us a fresh attempt
The fact of the matter is that they do not listen to us because they simply do not care. So many students have been affected by the second wave, people have lost loved ones and everyone is coping the best way that they can. Giving students 7 days notice for viva is unnecessary, arbitrary and in poor taste given the current situation.
To this day, there is NO representation of the student body's will or opinion in any decision making process. Our concerns are never addressed and we are treated like mindless cattle who have no choice but to heed all orders in silence.
The student council is a sham consisting of mainly students who are cherry-picked for being respectful and subservient to the management. Even if they do voice out our concerns, they are paid close to no attention.
The audacity of individuals to suggest there is actual dialogue with students and that our concerns are heard is condemnable and disgusting.
Slcu is solely responsible for disturbing my mental health.
#ripmentalhealth
Mental health is just a term in black and white.
The center of examinations is an absolute joke. I'm pretty sure they're butthurt that their "tech savvy full proof" option of hosting the exam last sem was exploited by most students. Now they drastically change the pattern as a way of getting back to us. We were intimated of the division of mark between VIVA and Examination only yesterday.
Time and again, this joke of a university has had blatant disregard for the student community. There's no open dialogue. There's always undue influence when you speak up or stand for something.
People are losing their lives, students have lost their parents, siblings, friends, neighbours, acquaintances. The only thing CHRIST is bothered about is conducting the examination.
It's time for the BCI to reign in on Christ, because currently Christ is a rabid dog on a fragile leash.
What they dont realise is that this way they are hampering the chances of students who want to go abroad for their LLM. 70% marks is mandatory in some colleges in UK to access scholarships. And Christ, due to their irrational stubbornness, stomps away on every chance a student has, to get out of the trauma this garbage college has given us in the name of "college life."
This viva and written exams system is to ensure students score less. This will definitely lower my marks and make me less eligible for a admission as well as scholarships. I think we should stop comparing this situation to Symbi's postponement, because it has become very apparent that Symbi cares about the well being and future of its students, whereas Christ doesn't give a damn about it.
2. What is the problem with going public? When SLCU compares itself with colleges like NLSIU and JGLS or even Symbi, then it should act reasonably like them too. I have never heard anybody say from NLUs or Jindal that they have been told to keep quiet and get on with it and feel "lucky" to be in a high ranking college. Christ isn't even that highly ranked.
3. Comparison with poverty is next level whataboutism and I request you to only reply to this using logical arguments.
4. Also, if you are so concerned with poverty, please let us know your thoughts about the fee policy of Christ.
Again, this is majority opinion that it is completely insensitive and tone deaf on the college administration's part to increase the fees at this time, when they have not given us any facility in the past year, despite taking full fees AND wont be providing us with any facilities in the coming year as well.
5. We dont have time to be patient! That is the entire point!! We barely have a week to prepare 6 heavy duty subjects, give a viva and sit for an exam for which "strict sitting rules" will be told to us. I request anybody who is reading this to NOT be patient.
6. I understand that people in administration may also have faced some personal tragedies. However, that doesn't excuse them to harass us in this way. If they have faced problems in the pandemic, it doesn't give them a right to give us more problems to deal with. This just makes Christ administration look apathetic. I am very sorry for their loss but that doesnt allow them to play with out future.
If its statistics you are so proud of heres the hard facts as per NIRF 2019-2020 data
For UG- the Univeristy could place 129 students out of 246 graduating students with a median salary of only 470000(Four Lakh Seventy Thousand). This is dismal compared to the amount we pay each year.
Also -
1. Student Council meetings are secretive and no minutes of meetings is published
2. School of Law is the only department in Christ University that does not have a student exchange program
3. No funding for moots , ADR and other competitions
4. No Gold medals during convication (only 2) unlike other law universities
5. Meagre electives that are taught by sub-competent faculty
6. No engagement with university alumni
7. No placement statistics published by the University
8. No effective scholarship that funds students for full tenure of study (unlike NLU's and other Universities ) ( SLCU gives 5000 as a scholarship amount)
9.No Research Centres
ONLY ON PAPER WE HAVE A NIRF RANKING- REALITY IS MUCH WORSE
THE LIST GOES ON AND ON !!!!!!!
It's getting difficult for me to like all your comments xD
I am a Law student studying in School of Law, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore. Through this mail, I would like to bring to your notice the very recently announced, unreasonable and completely oppressive End semester examination policy of my University, where students have only been given 1 week to prepare for both viva and written exams only for 50 marks, without even interacting with the students and knowing their thoughts about the same.
Earlier in the semester, the University announced that they are going to conduct offline exams in the campus itself. They stood by this directive even as cases were rising across India and in Bangalore. Pursuant to internal requests by the student body, they announced on 18th April, 2021 that the exams have been postponed to June or July and will be conducted on campus. This period was previously supposed to be the School of Law's internship break, so many of the students scheduled their internships for the months of May and the first weeks of June.
Then, on 7th May, 2021 they communicated to us that the dates have been fixed as 21st June, 2021 to 3rd July, 2021. This is why most of us planned to continue our internships till 15th June. Additionally, it was stipulated if a department has internships as a part of the programme, which is the case with the School of Law, exams can be conducted in July. In this notice it was stated that there will be a viva-voce as an "important component of the exam." The student body scheduled their internships and planned preparations for their examinations accordingly. On 2nd June, 2021, the time table for our end semester exams was published on our 'Knowledge Pro' (KP) accounts which stated that the exams will be starting from 22nd June, 2021 to 3rd July, 2021. This gave us the presumption that our viva will also be taking place during this period, as nothing contrary to this was mentioned there.
However, on the midnight of 4th-5th June, 2021, we received a mail regarding the instructions about our examinations, which stated that the viva is going to start from 14th June, 2021 to 19th June, 2021. It is to be noted that this the first time any date before 21st June has ever been mentioned by the University in any official communication. The viva has been announced without informing us anything about the dates or even that they will take place before the written exams. Apart from this, teachers have the liberty to conduct vivas even before 14th if they teach combined classes (i.e. more than one section of a batch), starting from 12th June. This effectively gives a student 1 week to prepare for the full syllabus of 6 Law subjects, for both viva and written exams. The instructions sent to us are extremely troublesome, for reasons stated below:
1. The student body was given no prior communication about the dates of the viva and the fact that the viva is going to be including our entire syllabus.
2. The viva schedule has been given at a very short notice of 1 week which is not enough for preparation, when 4th year students have subjects like Civil Procedure Code, Law of Limitations, Criminal Procedure Code, Interpretation of Statutes, Law of E-commerce and 2 electives in their 8th semester itself.
3. If a student misses their Viva slot for any reason, they will be marked absent. This is problematic considering the troubled time all students across the country are going through. The University is also not considering the fact that the viva is going to be taken through Webex and a student who might be facing internet problems or other technical difficulties, might lose the opportunity to appear for their viva entirely.
4. Most students are in the middle of their internships and it will be very difficult for them to bail out from their internships at such a short notice. I am interning as a Research Intern right now and if I have to start preparing for these exams, I'll have to drop my internship right now.
5. In the written examination, we have been instructed to Upload the pictures of our answers. For the past 2 end semester exams that we have given online, we were told to 'Type' our answers directly on the Mettl platform and this system was completely fine by the student body. Now this rule has also been changed, without any reasoning, completely ignoring the technical difficulties this might bring up.
Our University has been following the Asynchronous form of teaching and learning and due to that, we have submitted almost 80 assignments in the last semester, only to claim attendance. This is exclusive of all the other exams we have given in the form of Continuous Internal Assessments (CIAs), such as tests, research papers, mid semester open book examinations and other assignments, for 50 marks. Now, the imposition of such a strict end semester examination pattern acts as an additional burden on the student body. The students of School of Law are extremely active on the co-curricular side of legal education, be it participation and meritorious performance in moots, ADR competitions, publications etc. We do not get any attendance or assignment exemption from College for participating in these activities. Managing all these activities along with academics is already difficult and now the end semester exams are going to hamper our internships. This is completely unfair, unjust and unreasonable.
I understand that the Bar Council of India announced that they are going to release guidelines for conducting examinations for law colleges across India, on 2nd June. Keeping this in mind, the notification from my university and my department seems like a deliberate attempt to cause unnecessary stress to the student body and to conduct exams as soon as possible to avoid the potential orders passed by the BCI.
I am personally very aggrieved by this pattern of examination on such a short notice. At this time, when many students lost their loved ones and are under extreme duress, emotionally, physically and even financially, this move by my college is insensitive and tone-deaf. As the regulator of exams for law schools across India. I request you to intervene in this matter and direct School of Law, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore to postpone the exams till BCI has come up with guidelines of their own. The student body of School of Law in intermediate years consists of more than 1000 students and this irrational examination policy will affect all of them. I fervently appeal to your office to take immediate and swift action in the best interests of students.
Please find attached all the official communication and notices sent by the college that I have referenced in the mail.
Looking forward to a favourable reply!
Sincerely,
SLCU students submitted 80 daily assignments, 12 marked assignments and 6 mid sem open book exams for 50 marks. This viva and written exam is for the other 50. All this while maintaining 85% minimum attendance (even in online format) and winning god knows how many moots, ADRs, trial competitions, presenting papers everywhere and doing publications. All this without any support of our college.
The system is wayyyyy more rigorous than any law school in India, be it private or government.
Christites have it hard, SLCU students have it harder.
I have posted a draft of the mail I have sent to BCI and cc to UGC on this thread. Feel free to forward this to these email ids:
manankumarmishra@gmail.com
sensrimantosecy.bci@gmail.com
dlebci@gmail.com
councilaibe@gmail.com
sgportalugc1@gmail.com
covid19help.ugc@gmail.com
Note:
1. Pls send this from your private email ids.
2. Attach your own time tables to the mail and other docs.
3. If you are not in the 4th year, please change the subjects listed in the mail too.
4. Don't forget to write your name at the end. It is suggested that you only write your names and nothing else.
5. Write "URGENT- Intermediate class exams on short notice" as the subject line.
This is just a draft, you can add or delete any statement that you wish. Act quickly guys, we dont have much time to get this BS cancelled!
Cheers
I'm done being silent about all these things that we have been subjected to in SLCU for the last 4 years. I cannot emphasize how much my mental health has deteriorated in law school. I hope all my fellow Christites will rise to the occasion and raise their voices too!
Please sign this petition regarding the end sem examinations which will be sent to the BCI within 2 days. More the signatures, more support. Lets give this a last try!!
http://chng.it/Cm2QYqXxCr
https://www.barandbench.com/news/lawschools/delhi-university-faculty-of-law-students-bci-expert-committee-cancel-exams
Full support!!!!