The Ministry of Human Resource and Development on July 7, 2020, announced that the UGC final year exam 2020 of the universities will be held in September. The University Grants Commission (UGC) said, “The terminal semester will be conducted by the universities by the end of September, 2020 in offline (pen and paper) or online or blended (online + offline) mode.” A day after, Maharashtra higher education minister Uday Samant wrote to the Centre seeking uniform guidelines for awarding degrees based on an “appropriate evaluation formula” instead.

Samant said in his letter, “I am of the opinion that the UGC’s revised guidelines are not mandatory but an advisory like the earlier ones.”

He added, “In such unforeseen, uncertain and critically challenging situation, conduct of final-year exams for approximately more than 10 lakh students seems highly infeasible and, if conducted, would endanger the wellbeing of students, parents, teachers, supporting staff and other machinery involved in the process.”

Earlier, the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to instruct relevant apex bodies to cancel final year/semester examinations of professional courses due to the coronavirus pandemic outbreak.

In a letter to PM Modi dated June 25, Thackeray said the state Disaster Management Authority, in a meeting on June 18, decided not to conduct final year/semester examinations of non-professional as well as professional courses and award degrees to students based on a formula to be decided by universities.

Thackeray tweeted, ” Maharashtra Government has taken a decision to not conduct the final year/final semester examination of the non-professional courses as well as professional courses as the present atmosphere is not yet conducive to conduct any examination or classes.

Source: Times of India

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