MHRD Minister said UGC to “revisit” its guidelines on university semester exams and academic calendar.

Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has said today that he has advised the University Grants Commission or UGC to “revisit” its guidelines on university semester exams and academic calendar. News agency PTI quoted officials as saying that final year exams in universities and higher education institutions which were to be held in July are likely to be cancelled in view of the spike in COVID-19 cases, and the commencement of the new session is likely to be deferred to October. The revised guidelines, recommended by an expert committee set up by the UGC and headed by Haryana University vice-chancellor R C Kuhad, are expected to be announced by the higher education regulator within a week's time.  

University exams to be cancelled?: 10 points on revised academic calendar, exams

1. “I have advised the @ugc_india to revisit the guidelines issued earlier for intermediate and Terminal Semester examinations and academic calendar. The foundation for revisited guidelines shall be health and safety students, teachers and staff,” the education minister tweeted today.

2. According to officials, a panel, set up by UGC and headed by Haryana University vice-chancellor R C Kuhad, has been asked to revisit the guidelines and come up with alternative options.

3. The expert committee, according to a senior official, is of the view that the examinations due in July in most universities as per the revised academic calendar be cancelled and marks for final examination be awarded based on the past performance of each student.

4. "Students who are not happy with the final marks being given to them based on previous examinations, can be given a chance to improvise their scores by taking examinations later when the pandemic subsides," PTI quoted the senior official as saying.

5. The official has also said that the commencement of the new academic session, which was earlier planned for already enrolled students from August and freshers from September, is also likely to be deferred to October. "The deliberations are on and final guidelines in this regard will be announced soon," he added.

6. Students’ bodies like NSUI and SFI and also DUTA, Delhi University Teachers Association welcomed the reported recommendation of the UGC Committee headed by Prof Kuhad to cancel examinations for final year students .”It also welcomes the Minister of HRD, Shri Ramesh Pokriyal Nishank's advisory to the UGC to revisit the guidelines for examinations and academic calendar,” DUTA said in a statement.

7. “The DUTA hopes that good sense will now prevail on the DU Vice-Chancellor and urges him to cancel the OBE without any delay as future of more than 4 lakh students is at stake. Moreover, students ought not to be put to any further uncertainty and trauma in the current context,” DUTA said in reference to Delhi University.

8. Meanwhile, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana have decided to cancel examinations of all university students. The students will be promoted in these states based on their previous performances.

9. While releasing its new academic calendar in April, the UGC had said the intermediate semester students will be graded based on internal assessment of the present and previous semester while the exams for the terminal semester students will be held in the month of July. For intermediate semester students in the states where the COVID-19 situation has normalized, there will be exams in the month of July, it said then. 10. A nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24, which came into effect the next day. While the government has eased several restrictions, schools and colleges continue to remain closed.

Source: NDTV

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