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Maharashtra: Ed-Tech companies targeting varsities, colleges for online exam softwares business

by pranjalipargaonkar

Mumbai: After Supreme Courts asked Universities to conducting final year exams. Many opt for conducting online exams. For which now edtech company has started contacting colleges affiliated to Mumbai University to bag the contracts, this has come as the university has no centralised technology to conduct online exam. Whether these firms are experience or not, everyone is looking to bag the Rs 21-million online exam contract. College principals, several from the rural pockets having little technical know-how, are also scrambling to get a software partner. On Tuesday, engineering colleges were asked to “mandatorily” opt for a particular software, though many institutes are software self-sufficient, with proctoring facility too.

A principal whose college will be using google form said, “It is a big scam. There is constant pressure on us from the lead college of the cluster to opt for a specific software”. “It is a bigger business than just this one exam as after a month, colleges will have to conduct the first and second year exams,” he added.
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According to report, Vendors like Parshvaa Edu Mentor which has tied up with TeachUs, besides Onfees, Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL), Muni Pariksha are some of the firms that are in talks with colleges. As per the colleges head, the database of college principals has been shared with edtech companies. Some of these firms are being pushed by certain university deans and heads of cluster colleges and now their marketing people are harassing college heads.

The rate for conducting online exams is Rs 12 (for more than 10,000 students) or Rs 15 per student, for each paper. MKCL has offered a rate of Rs 10, in addition to taxes, while Muni Pariksha has offered Rs 6.5 if the nearly 70 engineering colleges work exclusively with them.

Meanwhile, Pune University has followed the traditional path of calling for tenders from companies. Amravati and Nagpur universities are working with a common vendor who will charge Rs 8 per exam for each student.

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