In a six-month semester, colleges hold classes for barely 45 to 50 days. However, the University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations state that at least 90 days of classes per semester must be held to complete the syllabus. With practically half the classes being conducted, a section of the education community believes that the quality of education is being compromised.
The University of Calcutta's 150 colleges face extensive obstacles in complying with UGC regulations. The main obstacle among these is multiple colleges on the same campus. That is, two or three colleges operate in the same building. Or classes are held in three shifts. On Wednesday, the university's controller of examinations had summoned the principals of 42 such colleges.
According to sources, in a two-hour meeting on Wednesday led by Vice-Chancellor Ashutosh Ghosh, maximum emphasis was placed on increasing the number of classes by any means. The principals and officers present in the meeting gave various opinions on how maximum teaching days could be implemented in colleges. Firstly, conducting examinations simultaneously for all subjects except a handful of subjects, including Commerce as well as History, Political Science and Education in Arts. That is, in subjects with fewer students, examinations for Morning-Day-Night college candidates will be held during the day with the same question paper set.
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However, in subjects like Commerce as well as History, Political Science and Education in Arts, as there are numerous students, question papers will be prepared in multiple sets.
Secondly, currently examinations for odd (one, three and five) and even (two, four and six) semesters are held in phases, which takes many days. In that case, examinations for semesters one-three and two-four can be held on the same day. Thirdly, if the examination schedule is held from 2 PM instead of 12 PM, there will also be an opportunity for classes in the morning during the first half. Fourthly, the meeting also discussed the proposal of whether classes can be held during summer recess and after the Lakshmi Puja during the puja period.
Jaydeep Sarangi, Principal of New Alipore College, who was present at the meeting, said, “In today's meeting, principals and officers gave detailed opinions on reducing examination days as much as possible. The controller of examinations will examine these matters. The university itself will prepare questions for minor subjects. It has been decided to leave the responsibility of checking answer sheets to the colleges for quick result publication.”
A university official informed that answer sheets are still checked by college teachers. However, the university informs which college's answer sheets should be sent to which college's subject expert. According to Pankaj Roy, Principal of Jogeshchandra Chaudhuri College, “Although first semester classes started late in September this year due to OBC reservation, the meeting discussed completing first, third and fifth semester examinations before the 2026 Assembly elections.”
Vice-Chancellor Ashutosh Ghosh said, “Due to the implementation of the new education policy, two more semesters have been added. In this situation, several proposals have been discussed for a minimum of 90 days of classroom teaching. A final decision will be taken in the Syndicate in this regard.”
