India’s largest fashion institute, NIFT is rushing to prepare exam guidelines after 700 students sign a protest petition

• Protesting students have alleged that the institute is keeping the students “hanging with no final guidelines”.
  
• However, the guidelines are likely to be out in a day or two, a source told Business Insider.
  
• Visit Business Insider India for more stories.

India’s largest fashion institute, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) is rushing to release the guidelines on the final examinations and the evaluation process to promote students during the COVID-19 crisis.

“The guidelines are issued by the academic heads of all institutions and vary with the course. They are discussing the guidelines with the project coordinators, within one or two days everything will be clear,” a source told Business Insider.

Queries sent to NIFT are awaiting response. The story will be updated as and when it is received.


This comes after the petition started by the students across the 16 campuses alleged the institute of keeping the students “hanging with no final guidelines”. The petition has already received support from nearly 702 students — including those from the Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai campuses.

“We, the graduating students of a reputed institution like NIFT are still hanging by a thread with no final guidelines with regards to how our final external jury will be carried out in a scenario where most of us have returned back to our hometowns and are not in the position to return back to our campuses given the current pandemic,” the petition said.

The students are now facing challenges in completing their projects due to the global pandemic. This is majorly because the course curriculum involves practical implementation of projects in their respective industries, in general. That requires stationary to develop prototypes and industrial visits.


According to the petition, the students are expected to develop physical prototypes for the completion of their industry projects. Given the uncertainty of the pandemic, the students allege that the guidelines are ‘unfeasible’ and ‘impractical.’ “Most of us don't have access to resources, and are suffering through a financial crisis, Our parents have either lost their jobs or have had to accept salary cuts while our own mental health has gone down the drain with no clarity or assurance of a final conclusion with regards to our final project as well as placement.”

However, the coordinator at NIFT Hyderabad told IndiaTVnews that the placements are going as per the plan. “Placements are fine. I just opened my phone and there are emails from companies lined up for students. We can't cancel exams because we have to evaluate the students. I am regularly sending company updates and internships for the students. We also made travel arrangements for the students so they can reach home safely.”

A lot of them are also complaining about the issues with internet connectivity to attend the online classes — especially those coming from the remote areas or tier III cities.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), in its latest directive, said that the final year college students will have to sit for exams in July — or later if the condition worsens. As an alternative plan, some institutions are also going ahead with online exams and evaluation based on internal assessments.

See also:
Top 10 higher education institutions in India

This Kailash Satyarthi interview is a reminder that the worst form of child labour is child porn — an $8 billion industry