Cancel final-year exams: UGC ex-chief

Cancel final-year exams: UGC ex-chief

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:  10.07.2020

Former UGC chairperson Sukhadeo Thorat and a few professors from Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University have jointly written to UGC asking it to reconsider its July 6 notification on exams.

“The UGC’s latest advisory on examinations is unfortunate because it takes us backwards rather than forward. It effectively extends the period for holding of exams for final year/semester cohorts until September; and is the second such postponement. It creates fresh uncertainty for states that had already decided to cancel exams,” read the letter signed by professors Apoorvanand, Nandini Sundar and N Sukumar from DU and Ayesha Kidwai and Jayati Ghosh from JNU.

The letter said that examinations held in the ‘online’ or ‘mixed’ mode will be biased because they will favour students with better access to the internet.

UGC exams-by-Sept order not fair: Bengal to MHRD

UGC exams-by-Sept order not fair: Bengal to MHRD

‘Move Against Spirit Of Federal Structure’

Somdatta.Basu@timesgroup.com

Kolkata:  10.07.2020

The Bengal government on Thursday wrote to higher education secretary, MHRD, Amit Khare criticising the UGC’s recent directive to universities, asking them to hold terminal semester examinations compulsorily by September end.

State education secretary Manish Jain said the move was against the spirit of the federal structure enshrined in the Constitution of India, as ‘education’ is placed in the concurrent list and Bengal was never consulted by the UGC despite a request.

Jain pointed out that some states and UTs such as Punjab, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Puducherry had already decided not to hold the terminal semester exams while several IITs had called off theirs.

A senior academic, however, argued that since UGC had been constituted by Parliament, in the event of a Centre-state conflict, the central laws prevailed. The present disaster act also gives the Centre a wide berth. Moreover, there should be uniformity in assessment rules to enable students to apply across colleges and universities, the academic said.

The state has mentioned that while the April advisory issued by the statutory body allowed universities to be flexible and the government or any competent authority to issue guidelines, the revised circular on Monday is in conflict with the former.

Reasoning why the state had opted for a blended model for both online and offline modes, Jain in his letter pointed out that looking at the current trend of rapidly growing number of Covid-19 cases and the projections, it could not be predicted if the situation would be conducive to holding exams by September-end.

“Besides, going through the statistics of the Government of India on digital access across the country, it will not be appropriate to hold online exams, which will be discriminatory against a large section of students, especially in rural areas, who do not have access to computers and the internet,” the letter states.

A source in the state government said Bengal’s exam advisory was based on UGC’s April guidelines, wherein universities were given an option to provide due weightage to internal assessment and performance of a candidate in earlier semesters to ensure transparency.

“Moreover, our advisory has a provision for holding special exams after the situation normalises for such students who wish to appear in a formal examination instead of the alternative evaluation method,” the source said, stressing that it would be difficult to undo such an action because state universities had already acted upon the advisory.

Conducting the terminal semester exams by September 30 will not only delay results, but also be detrimental to the career of and cause financial distress to many students who are dependent upon securing a job to sustain themselves and their families, the letter to the MHRD secretary pointed out. “It will also restrict students from applying for further higher studies, nationally and internationally, thereby demoralising them and their families,” the letter added. The state higher education department has conveyed to UGC that it is looking forward to a positive response.

Besides, going through the statistics of the Government of India on digital access across the country, it will not be appropriate to hold online exams, which will be discriminatory against a large section of students, especially in rural areas, who do not have access to computers and the internet.

It will also restrict students from applying for further higher studies, nationally and internationally, thereby demoralising them and their families

Manish Jain’s letter to MHRD

Dailyhunt, Sharechat among 89 apps banned by Army

Dailyhunt, Sharechat among 89 apps banned by Army

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:  10.07.2020

The list of 89 apps that the Army has ordered all officers and soldiers to delete (reported in Thursday’s edition of TOI) include news aggregator Dailyhunt, social network Sharechat, and entertainment application Hungama.

These apps — besides social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat and games such as PUBG — were not part of the 59 apps banned by the government last week.

The apps banned by the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) like TikTok, We-Chat, UC Browser and NewsDog last week were completely or majority -owned by Chinese individuals or corporations. The Army’s ban includes companies based across the world, from the US (Facebook, Snapchat, Zoom) to Sweden (Truecaller).

The more expansive list from the Army comes amid rising concerns around honey-trapping and data misuse. In a lot of these apps the location of the user may be available, which may be risky when defence personnel are serving on the border or in sensitive locations. Sources said the Army has been concerned about the unintentional flow of information from its personnel.

“It is an area of concern and the orders have been issued from the perspective of driving a sense of discipline within the forces when it comes to their presence online,” an industry analyst, working with one of the country’s top firms, said on condition of anonymity.

The Army’s decision comes nearly a week after the Indian government ordered the blocking of 59 Chinese apps for “engaging in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”.

An Army convoy carrying goods moves towards Leh on Thursday

In a lot of these apps the location of the user may be available, which may be risky when defence personnel are serving on the border or in sensitive locations

Raj Govt Had Decided To Cancel Exams

NSUI opposes UGC exam decision

Raj Govt Had Decided To Cancel Exams

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Jaipur:  10.07.2020

NSUI members of Rajasthan University staged a protest on the varsity campus against the decision of UGC to conduct final exams of higher educational institutes.

The Rajasthan government had already decided to cancel all the exams of higher education, but UGC a day after released the guidelines to conduct exams in September. This has now created confusion amongst students who are still not clear whether the exams will be conducted.

NSUI spokesperson Ramesh Bhati said the higher education exams should be cancelled and the government must issue guidelines to evaluate students. “We want clarity on whether exams are being cancelled. It is dangerous to appear for exams when the number of coronavirus cases is rising. There is immense fear among students. So, the government must cancel the exam for the safety of students,” Bhati said.

The Rajasthan government said that they will have a discussion with UGC to let them take a call on holding college and university exams.

Academicians of the state, however, said that it is necessary to conduct exams for final year students or it will affect their future later on. “If you promote students in final year without exams, it will have a negative impact on their future. UGC has already declared to conduct exams, but if the state government somehow goes ahead with promoting students without exams, it will be difficult to get a job in other parts of the country. Hence, for final year classes, exams must be held.”

“There should be a mechanism to mark students as anyone can be affected by coronavirus. It is necessary to keep the decision of cancellation of exams,” Bhati added.

NSUI members stage a protest at the RU campus on Thursday

Cong to organize online campaign

On the call of All Indian Congress Committee (AICC), the party state unit will organize an online campaign on Friday #Speak up for students from 10am. Deputy CM Sachin Pilot said the campaign is aimed at promotion of students to next year based on previous years’ performance without exams in the light of Covid-19.

Govt expects varsities to hold degree, PG exams

Govt expects varsities to hold degree, PG exams

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad:  10.07.2020

The government on Thursday informed the high court that it will follow the UGC’s latest guidelines and would expect universities in the state to conduct examinations of degree and PG courses.

A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy was hearing two PILs seeking postponement of degree and PG exams. Advocate general BS Prasad told the bench that exams would be held in near future according to UGC guidelines and till then, examinations are postponed, he said.

Petitioners’ counsel C Damodar Reddy said that students can be promoted in tune with their past performance. Several states followed this route, he said, adding that UGC guidelines are only advisory.

The bench sought a counter from the government and posted the case to 3 weeks. The state has already postponed several comon entrance tests scheduled to be held during July.

UoH gets central grant of over ₹50 cr

UoH gets central grant of over ₹50 cr

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad:  10.07,2020

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) under the Union ministry of science & technology has sanctioned a grant of ₹50.44 crore to the School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH) for five years.

The grant, which was sanctioned as part of the ‘Boost to University Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Department for Education and Research (BUILDER)’ programme, will be utilised by the School of Life Sciences to promote inter-disciplinary teaching and research.

The varsity will be using the grant to upgrade the central facilities of the School such as proteomics, metabolomics, genomics, greenhouse, animal house, etc. Continuous training programmes will also be organised for the benefit of faculty, masters, and research students working in less equipped remotely located universities. “It’s gratifying to see the School of Life Sciences again recognised by DBT with excellent grant support. With this support, I believe that the efforts by the faculty, post-docs, and the students will enhance research output and enable the School of Life Sciences to be among the world’s best,” said Appa Rao Podile, V-C, UoH.

Under this programme, the school has been sanctioned a budget to improve infrastructure, human resources and equipment. The DBT-BUILDER augmented infrastructure facilities will benefit masters and research students, and facilitate high-end research. The support will also be used to offer training programmes in advanced areas of biology besides encouraging student interns from other institutions.

RGPV final yr exams from July 27

RGPV final yr exams from July 27

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bhopal:10.07.2020

RGPV, technical university of Madhya Pradesh, has started preparation to conduct final semester exams for engineering and other technical courses online from July 27.

RGPV has also issued notification to start online semester classes of polytechnic colleges across the state from July 15.

RGPV’s PRO Shashi Ranjan Akela told TOI that the university will put the draft to conduct final year exams in the next executive council meeting. RGPV has also decided to start practical exams from August 4-5. Talking about the mode of the exam, Akela said, “As of now RGPV is working on conducting online exams. The offline exam decision will be at a later stage by the council.” RGPV is to conduct an exam of 36,000 final year students. Earlier, RGPV had announced to conduct an exam from July 7 but it was postponed after the state government declared to provide general promotion to the students including to those in the final year. Sources said, students will be given the weight of 50% of the semester grade point average (SGPS), based on their seventh semester. These will be based on a committee that had made specific recommendations for conducting exams from July 7. As per recommendation, at least two mock tests would be organised before the final exams to help students familiarise with the online test process.

The platform to be used for the exam should be compatible with desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphones. Students will have to record themselves taking the exam to check the possibility of cheating and other unfair means.