UG and PG students across the country have started a campaign demanding the cancellation of their final exams. They have been tweeting with #StudentLivesMatter to put pressure on the educational institutions to cancel the exams and promote the students. Earlier, educational institutes such as Delhi University and IITs decided to promote the intermediate semester students without exams. Maharashtra too is promoting all students. Students in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have also demanded that they too be promoted without exams.

But as more educational institutes are declaring tentative dates of the final year exams, students are now worried. Many had left for their hometowns after the institutes started emptying out their hostel facilities in March to contain the spread of coronavirus. Students claim that they left without taking any study material and hence, they are unable to prepare for the exams. As part of the #StudentLivesMatter campaign, the students said they are also concerned about the rise in the cases of coronavirus and their universities’ decision to conduct exams.

The decision to conduct the final year exams was finalised after the MHRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ formed a UGC Task Force to frame safety guidelines to be followed during the exams. But students expressed their doubts in the system and their unwillingness to sit for exams, citing safety concerns. The state governments however, have not yet decided about cancelling final year exams.

As a part of the #StudentLivesMatter campaign, a student tweeted: “Students are not testing kits. Open Parliament first then colleges”. (sic). Another student tweeted: “Students are the future of our country. Exams are not important than lives of youth.” (sic)