Udupi : Members of the National Students Union of India district unit staged a dharna in front of the Clock Tower on Monday against the Visvesvaraya Technological University demanding cancellation of critical year-back system for non-Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) students and introduction of supplementary exams for CBCS students.

Christan Almeida, president of the district unit, said for non-CBCS students, the crash course – introduced for final, year and second year students to save them from the year-back system, six months ago – had created more hardship. All crash course students were now writing more than 16 subjects plus previous backlogs in a duration of just two months.

Most colleges had not followed VTU guidelines and had not taken the classes. Students were supposed to write odd semester exams during study holidays for regular students and even semester exams with regular students. That amounted to eight subjects from the odd semester plus eight from the even as well as backlogs. It was nearly impossible to clear more than 16 in one attempt.

The VTU should cancel year-back system for crash course and regular students of 2010 scheme for the academic year 2017. It should permit students to attend classes. As regards CBCS students, the supplementary exams should be conducted so that they could clear the backlog, Mr. Almeida said.