SC: Final year exams must for judging students’ competence

SC: Final year exams must for judging students’ competence

Justifies UGC Decision To Hold Exams For Awarding Degrees

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:29.08.2020

The Supreme Court on Friday justified the UGC’s insistence on final examinations for undergraduate and postgraduate courses for award of degrees and said this was an important process to seek evidence of students’ knowledge and evaluate it.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R S Reddy and M R Shah said, “Final year/ terminal semester examinations are important because the learning process is a dynamic interaction where the only way to figure out what students know is to seek evidence of their knowledge and to evaluate it. Performance in examination, especially final year/ terminal semester examination, are a reflection of competence of the students.

“Terminal semester/final year examination also provides an opportunity to students to improve upon their overall score/marks which are very crucial for academic excellence and opportunities of employment. Final year/terminal semester examination of undergraduate or postgraduate is an opportunity for a student to show his optimum calibre which paves his future career both in academics and employment.”

Maharashtra government, drawing support from West Bengal and Delhi, had questioned the rationale behind UGC fixing a September 30 deadline for completion of final examinations without taking into account the dynamic Covid-19 situation in different states. The bench said, “UGC had rightly fixed a date for completion of terminal semester/ final year examination throughout the country to maintain uniformity in the academic calendar.”

The court said UGC fixed a uniform deadline as students, who look forward to admission in higher courses or take employment, require final degree for their career prospects and for this, there has to be to uniformity in dates by which final examinations are over.

Maharashtra government had decided on June 19 that final year examination of professional courses could not be arranged during the pandemic.

With regard to non-professional (traditional) courses, the state had decided to declare results by adopting a suitable formula after obtaining in writing from students that they intended to get degree without appearing in examinations.

The states had argued that UGC could not have taken a unilateral decision to fix September 30 deadline for completion of final examinations without consulting states and universities. The bench said, “Whether for collecting information relating to university education in India, if UGC has to consult all 900 or more universities and whether without consultation with the universities, it cannot perform its functions under Section 12 of the UGC Act, the answer would be obviously that it is not necessary for UGC to consult all universities while collecting information relating to university education in India.”

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