They fear a giant cluster in power which will begin this Monday on the benches of their university. 2nd year eco-management students at the University of Paris-Est Créteil (Upec) have launched a petition on change.org to demand that their exams take place at a distance from Monday, and not face-to-face as their management provides.
Many other branches of Upec and other Ile-de-France universities organize the January exams remotely because of the Covid-19 epidemic. Some combine exams on site and at home, such as in the 2nd year of the law degree (L2) at Upec. But for the L2 in economics and management, everything will take place at university.
“The management of the UPEC commits the same error as in September with the UFR of right”, indignant Sami (first name has been changed), 19 years old, in L2 eco-management. The young man echoes the re-entry of students in the 2nd year of law that the university had organized in person, in Créteil (Val-de-Marne).
“Dangerous for our health”
The result: crowded lecture halls, students seated on the floor and even around the teacher’s desk, corridors overflowing with students stuck together tightly, the speech of a teacher unconvinced by the usefulness of the mask … All while the coronavirus continued to circulate. The president of the university then announced that the courses would be taught remotely from the following week.
“Currently, the health crisis is far from over, worries Sami, taking care of his health all the more because he has asthma. A new strain of the virus is circulating. Most of the students saw a lot of people during these holidays. Bringing us in, taking public transport, spending days next to each other during these exams is dangerous for our health. “
He also denounces the lack of information from management on a possible health protocol: “Do we have to arrive in advance to spread out the flows and avoid crossings?” Is social distancing planned? If yes, how ? We have little communication and very few responses to our requests. “
Social distancing guaranteed, according to management
“All this adds to our anxiety, while many students like me have become mentally fragile with the epidemic and the confinements,” testifies Clara (first name has been changed), 19 years old, also in L2 eco-management. We will have to take transport, during rush hour in addition; we will be close to 300 students together, while many saw a lot of people at Christmas and for New Years Eve. I have not seen my grandmother and I am very careful because my mother is at risk. “And the young woman recalled:” Technically, we have been taking our courses remotely for almost a year. Nothing prevents us from also doing our exams from home. “
“The management fears cheating, evokes Sami. However, impossible to really cheat on our tests because they require above all to apply a logic. If we haven’t understood it, if we haven’t worked, it doesn’t change anything to be at home with the lessons at hand. On the other hand, it is true that it can reassure us: in the event of blank memory, one can check a point in a course for example. “
Newsletter The essential of 94
A tour of the news of Val-de-Marne and the IDF
—
L2 officials, solicited by several students and visibly annoyed by the petition, have just sent them an email three days before the exams assuring them that social distancing would be respected. And they ask them “to avoid dispersing. It would be much more helpful if you put all of your energy into your work and studying. The management of Upec, contacted, was unable to answer our questions.
–
