Bowing to students’ pressure, the Osmania University (OU) has postponed the semester examinations for the third time in a month. The university has announced that the exams will now be conducted only in the first week of January.

“We have rescheduled the examinations for MA, M.Sc, M.Com, BCJ, B.LiSc, MCJ, M.LiSc, M.Ed, M.PEd, MBA, MCA and Law. The exams will now begin on January 2, 2010. The revised schedule will be displayed on the university website www.osmania.ac.in in a couple of days,” the university registrar, Mr Venudhar said.

On Monday, the Osmania University students had taken out a rally on the campus demanding that the examinations be postponed.

Earlier, the students had requested the university’s Vice-Chancellor to postpone examinations saying that they had no time to prepare for the exams as they were involved in the Telangana struggle. “For more than two weeks we were busy taking part in agitations for separate Telangana state. We were unable to focus on our studies. A few students were also injured in the lathicharge. Therefore, we had requested the Vice-Chancellor to postpone the examinations,” said Mr J. Kalyan, a student leader.

Meanwhile, thousands of students are worried of their future as the academic calendar has gone haywire due to delay in the exams. They are now scared that they might not get their degree certificates which will cost them one academic year.

The Osmania University officials, however, said they will reschedule the academic calender and ensure the degree certificates are given on time.