Universities Allowed To Hold Final Year Exams
NEW DELHI : Much needed clarity on the pending University and College Exams; Home Ministry has allowed Universities to hold the pending semester exams for Final Year Students or Final Semester Students across India.
End-of-term exams in colleges and educational institutions — pending since March because of the lock down to slow the corona virus infection can now be held, maintaining all safety measures, the Union Home Ministry has said.
The University Grants Commission, or UGC, is now expected to release a new academic calendar and revised guidelines for exams. The pandemic has caused widespread disruption in the academic schedule. With schools shut since March, the board exams in most states were cancelled and the students were internally assessed on the basis of past performances.
The directions from Home Ministry came in the form of a letter issued by MHA to Union Higher Education Secretary permitting universities and institutions to hold final year exams for the students.
The clarification about the pending Semester Exams 2020 came amid reports of University Grants Commission (UGC) deciding against cancellation of the exams for final year students in a meeting held at Monday evening.
Students have been demanding that the competitive entrance exams for engineering and medical studies, scheduled to be held this month, be cancelled. There has been no announcement on the matter yet.
The ministry has written to the Higher Education Secretary, permitting the long pending exams as part of Unlock 2 the second phase of lifting the restrictions.
The final term examinations are to be compulsorily conducted as per the UGC Guidelines and academic calendar for the Universities and as per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) approved by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the letter said.
So far, several states, including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Haryana cancelled all higher education exams and decided to promote students on the basis of previous performances.
Recently, the Gujarat government reversed its decision to conduct final year examinations, within hours of announcing it. The Rajasthan government has cancelled under-graduate and post-graduate exams in all state universities.
According to sources the HRD Ministry and UGC officials are favoring a unified matrix that will be followed for the promotion of all college and university students across the country because of the cancellation of the semester examination this year.
However, as there are variety of streams, subjects and other diverse aspects that needs to be kept in mind before taking such decision that may lead to further complications, the commission has not completely ruled out holding the exams for Final Semester or Final Year Students.
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