GUWAHATI: Expressing serious concern about the mental stress and anxiety faced by students due to the ongoing unrest at Tezpur University, which includes demands for the removal of Vice-Chancellor Prof. Shambhu Nath Singh, the central university decided to cancel the end-semester exams that were set to start on Monday.

The exams were initially scheduled to begin on December 3, but due to intensified protests, they were postponed and were about to commence on Monday. A meeting involving deans, department heads, and the controller of examinations, along with Acting Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dhruba Kumar Bhattacharya, was conducted online on Sunday evening. During this meeting, the decision was made to postpone the exams scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. There is no certainty whether the remaining exams will take place, as the university has not yet announced the new dates for the exams. Sit-in protests continued at the university entrance on Monday, with administrative and academic buildings locked. Only emergency work is being allowed to proceed by the students.

“The meeting recorded its serious concern about the mental stress and anxiety being experienced by students due to the ongoing crisis at the university and sudden changes in the examination schedule,” stated the notification issued by the controller of examinations, TU, on Sunday evening. The notification further mentioned that the meeting unanimously decided to postpone the examinations scheduled for December 8–9. “The recommendation requests that the CoE review and make suitable modifications to the notification. A future course of action will be taken shortly,” the notification added.Meanwhile, some protesting students have threatened to boycott the remaining exams if the Ministry of Education (MoE) does not meet their demands. Their primary demand remains the removal of VC Singh and an investigation against him by an acting or retired Supreme Court judge. Joint Secretary in the MoE, Saumya Gupta, informed the TU registrar in a handwritten note on Saturday night that the department of education is committed to initiating a strict and time-bound inquiry against Singh, and during this period, he will not be administering the university.

Gupta’s assurance was aimed at calming the intense protest on the TU campus on Saturday night when students blocked the exit of higher education secretary and UGC chairperson Vineet Joshi and Gupta for nearly 3 hours. The students were dissatisfied as the MoE team led by Joshi could not promise action against VC Singh, who has allegedly been absent from the campus since September following protests over alleged financial and academic irregularities under Singh.

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