SPPU engg students demand re-examination

Engineering students enrolled with the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) under the 2019 pattern on Monday staged a protest at the main gate of the university, demanding a reexamination to avoid losing an academic year for failing in one or two subjects.

- Kimaya Boralkar

The students raised multiple concerns during the protest including discrepancies in examination results and grace marks; flaws in the reevaluation process; and frequent changes in the results displayed on the university website.

What started as a peaceful protest with students shouting slogans at the varsity’s main gate turned aggressive as the protesters scaled and broke the gate after university officials reportedly turned a blind eye to their agitation. Tensions escalated to a point wherein the police had to be summoned to rein in the melee.

Sumit Bansode, a student from Dattakala Shikshan Sanstha, said, “In 2024, the exam pattern was changed for engineering students. Nearly 20,000 to 25,000 of us (students) appeared for the exam under the 2019 pattern. Many students received marksheets showing a few backlogs but after some days, the same students were shown as having passed the examination...”