After Kejriwal, Punjab CM urges PM to reconsider decision to conduct exams
NEW DELHI : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and direct the UGC (university grants commission) and Human Resources Ministry(HRD) to cancel final year exams for students of both Delhi University and other central universities across the country in light of the COVID-19 crisis.
Mr Kejriwal, who has written to the Prime Minister, said: “For the sake of our youth, I urge the honourable Prime Minister to personally intervene and cancel final year exams of DU and other central government universities and save the future”.
In his letter the CM urged the centre and the UGC to amend guidelines in the larger interest of students and save their futures by cancelling last semester examinations.
“If institutes like IIT and NLU have already awarded degrees to their students on the basis of internal assessment, then why can’t other universities do the same?” the Chief Minister asked.
“Global universities have also awarded degrees on basis of internal assessment in the time of pandemic” he pointed out. Hours before his appeal, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said final exams for all state universities were cancelled.
“Since no studies took place this semester. It was not possible to hold exams. So we have asked universities to cancel exams and promote students on basis of past results or progressive method of evaluation,” Mr Sisodia, who is also Delhi’s education minister, was quoted by news agency pti.
Universities under the Delhi government include the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi Technological University, Ambedkar University and the Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women.
Central universities in Delhi include the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University and Jamia Millia Islamia.Central approval is needed to cancel exams in these institutions.
The conduct of final year exams during the coronavirus outbreak has been a contentious one, with several opposition leaders, like Congress’s Rahul Gandhi, against holding them this year.
The UGC has issued revised guidelines and it has been suggested the exams may be held and completed by September, either in classrooms or online.
Concerns over final year exams come amid a worrying spike in COVID-19 cases across the country; more than 8.2 lakh cases have been detected so far, with more than 20,000 fresh cases every day since July 3. Delhi is the third worst-affected region in the country, with nearly 1.10 lakh cases and 3,300 deaths.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to advise HRD Ministry and UGC to reconsider its decision to conduct mandatory exams for terminal classes in view of increasing COVID-19 cases.
CM Amarinder also posted the pictures of the letter on Twitter and wrote, “Have written to urge PM Narendra Modi Ji to advise HRD Ministry and UGC to reconsider its decision to conduct mandatory exams for terminal classes in view of increasing COVID-19 cases. Rather UGC should go by its earlier guidelines of April 29 to let States decide on the iss
“In view of this rising trend of cases, I am not sure whether the situation will be conducive for conducting offline physical examinations by September,” CM Amarinder said.
He opined, “Conducting physical examination will also involve huge logistical and operational challenges, especially in view of a large number of college/university buildings and hostels having been taken over by the District Administration for COVID-19 management purposes.”
“On the other hand, conducting online exams for such a large number of students, the majority of whom reside in rural areas without assured access to computers, laptops and internet is also not possible in the State,” CM Amarinder added.
The Punjab Government on Friday had also announced the cancellation of the pending examinations of various classes of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) that were earlier scheduled after July 15.
School Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla said the examinations of Class XII, open school and several other categories, including reappear and golden chance students, have been cancelled in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
India on Friday (July 11, 2020) recorded the highest single-day spike of 27,114 COVID-19 cases with the total number crossing 8 lakh mark. As per the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data the tally stood at 8,20,916 as per out of which 2,83,407 are active, 5,15,387 have been cured and migrated and 22,123 have died so far due to the infection.
(Bureau Report with Agency Inputs ).
