‘Exams have to be held in interest of students’

Govt: Will Take Call On Cancellation Requests

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:  13.07.2020

Citing that many states and over 200 universities had already completed their terminal semester/final year examinations, the Centre has told states that assessment for the final year students have to be conducted in the long-term interest of the students.

While saying that the government will examine the requests of six states for cancellation of examination of the final year students due to the prevailing Covid-19 situation, a senior official at the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) said that the regulations of the University Grants Commission (UGC) are mandatory and central directions take precedence.

On July 6, UGC’s revised guidelines directed the higher education institutions that final year examinations would be conducted in the month of September 2020.

Speaking to TOI, Amit Khare, secretary, higher education. MHRD said that while only six states have written to it for reconsidering the UGC’s decision on final year examinations, there are 200 universities across the country which have already completed the process.

On a few states announcing the cancellation of examinations, Khare said: “The UGC regulations are mandatory and it has been clearly stated that examinations have to take place by September, 2020. Higher education being in the Concurrent List, central directions take precedence. As per the UGC Act, state governments cannot take this decision. UGC and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) have to be implemented.”

He said the MHRD and UGC, instead of taking a populist step of cancelling the exams, is concerned about the situation and is taking a long term view in the interest of the batch of 2020.

Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Maharashtra, Odisha and West Bengal have written to the Centre saying that conducting exams in the states would not be feasible and on Saturday, Delhi also became the first state to cancel exams after the announcement of the revised UGC guidelines.

Even world’s best univs not awarding certificates without assessment: UGC

Cancellation of final year exams will not be in the interest of the students, the University Grants Commission (UGC) said, stating that it has given ample time and options to the universities to conduct the exams. It said that conducting the exams would be in the long term interest and life time credibility of the students, and that its guidelines are aligned towards bringing uniformity in terms of assessment. The regulatory authority pointed out that due to the pandemic, even the best universities across the world are conducting online examinations and no one is awarding any certificates without any assessment, reports Manash Gohain.

The UGC had directed all higher education institutions to conduct the terminal semester/ final year examinations either in offline, online or blended mode. Full report on www.toi.in