Unruly protests by the Kerala Students Union (KSU) activists affected the conduct of BTech examinations in engineering colleges affiliated to A.P.J Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) across the State on Thursday.
However, the examinations progressed smoothly with high participation, notwithstanding the initial commotion.
Over 73% of the registered candidates appeared for the examinations on the day.
Barge into office
Seeking the deferral of the examinations, KSU activists barged into the office of the Examination Controller at the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (CET). They snatched a bundle of examination documents and hurled them outside.
While the agitators claimed that they whisked away question papers, college authorities maintained that they only took away the graph papers meant to the distributed with the answer sheets. The police took three activists into custody.
Violent at TKM college
The agitation turned violent at the T.K.M. College of Engineering, Kollam, when students clashed with the police on the campus. One student was injured when the police resorted to forceful measures to disperse the protesters.
The college was also the worst affected in terms of examination attendance. Of the 240 students who had registered to appear for Thursday’s examinations from the centre, only 40 took the test.
College authorities pointed out that several students were dissuaded from attending the examinations by the protesters. The violence that broke out also deterred many.
91% at CET
Nearly 91% of students attended the examinations at CET. Official sources said most government and aided colleges, barring the TKM College of Engineering, recorded over 90% attendance. Over 20 colleges in the State also registered 100% attendance.
In anticipation of the protest campaign, KTU Vice Chancellor Rajasree M.S. had on Wednesday urged students to remain vigilant against a misinformation campaign.
The odd-semester examinations that commenced on July 9 were being held in the offline mode amid a relentless campaign for postponement or conducting the remainder as online examinations.
