Govt to review 6 states’ plea for cancellation of final-year exams

‘Exams Have To Be Held In Long-Term Interest Of Students’

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, instead of July 2020 (as per its April guidelines). The decision was taken by the expert committee in view of the prevailing situation.

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

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

He said MHRD and UGC, instead of taking a populist step of cancelling the exams, is concerned about 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 conducting exams in the states would not be feasible and on Saturday, Delhi government also became the first state to cancel exams after the announcement of the revised UGC guidelines.

On July 6, UGC directed higher education institutions that final year examinations would be conducted in September 2020