Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (NR)
 
Mangalore, Feb 5: A country-wide protest call was earlier on given by the National Students Union of India (NSUI) demanding a complete overhaul and revision in the semester system at the undergraduate level.  
This call was promptly responded to, by the city college students who boycotted classes here on Monday February 4. To press for their demands the students also staged a 'dharna' in front of Mangalore University's administrative office as part of the 'University Chalo' Andolan (campaign).  

Speaking to a huge gathering here, NSUI district president Thejaswi Raj forcefully asserted that the present form of semester system is a nightmare for students. In his opinion it was against the interest of rural and economically weaker sections of the society.  

"Under the existing carry-over system, a candidate who fails in lower semester examinations was permitted to go to higher semesters. However, no candidate was permitted to take the fifth semester examination unless they pass all the papers of the first semester and no candidate was permitted to take the sixth semester examination unless they pass all the papers of the first and second semesters" articulated Thejaswi Raj pointing out the lacunae in the evaluation system during exams.  

Further he lamented the fact that students needlessly lose their one year, if they cannot pass all the examinations of a particular semester at one go as there is no second chance. Hence he dubbed this system as a highly unreasonable one.  

On hearing of this 'dharna', to placate the students K M Kaveriappa vice-chancellor of Mangalore University immediately rushed to the spot and even accepted a memorandum from the students which listed out their grievances. On his part the vice-chancellor promised to look into the matter and is reportedly planning to put the matter before the senate meeting to be held next week.