Nearly 100 students of KS School of Business Management of Gujarat University have demanded their mid-semester exams, clashing with Paryushan (annual holy festival), to be deferred. Paryushan is a period of fasting for Jains, which will be held from September 6 to 13, and will clash with their mid-sems, which are slated to be held between September 1 to 12. Prit Jain, a second-year student, says this is unjust. He said, "If the government can declare a mini vacation during Navratri, and a holiday on Janmashtami, apart from Christmas vacation, then why should there be exams during our holy festival? It is absolutely unjust to the Jains; hence we are raising our concerns." Speaking about the same, Darshit Jain, an architect by profession, who also does volunteering work for the Jain community, said, "Students had come to us complaining about the same. While we are not demanding a holiday for our festival, many students travel to their hometown. Due to exams, they will not be able to enjoy themselves. There are no exams during Christmas or Ramzan, then why during our festival? Hence, we staged a peaceful protest on Wednesday so that college authorities defer the exam dates." The institute has called for a meeting with faculty members on Thursday after which a decision will be taken on the same. Commenting on the situation, Jayraj Pandya, Director, KS School of Business Management, said, "We have all kinds of students including Muslims, Parsis, Hindus, Jains, etc. If the dates are tweaked for one community, others will also demand the same and it will become difficult for us. We need to respect all communities and hence have called for a faculty meeting and decide whatever is good for the academic system." Himanshu Pandya, Vice-Chancellor, Gujarat University, said, "These are internal exams. So I have asked the director to look into the number of students wanting to defer the exams. If possible, we will defer, otherwise, the students will have to bear with it."

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