Over 755 universities across India informed the University Grants Commission (UGC) about status of examination in their institutions. Out of these, 366 have decided and conveyed to the commission that they will be conducting exams in the month of September.
These exams would be conducted in the view of the revised guidelines published by the UGC, asking all the universities to conduct exams “mandatorily” by the month of September. The guideline also specified that the mode of conducting the examination remains a choice which is to be taken by the institution themselves.
Out of the 755 universities, 321 are state universities, 274 are private, 120 deemed and 40 central universities.
Several state like Punjab, Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, etc. has been against the guidelines revised by the UGC on July 6. The Chief Ministers of Delhi and Punjab have also written to the centre asking for the roll back of these orders and the cancellation of exams in these states.
In the state of Punjab, the final year examination of students have already been cancelled and the results have started pooling in.
Chief Minister @capt_amarinder Singh has announced cancellation of university and college examinations in the state in view of the #CovidPandemic, though the exams that are currently being conducted online by some universities will continue uninterrupted. #PunjabFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/YbPXmG1lG8
— Government of Punjab (@PunjabGovtIndia) July 4, 2020
Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) Amritsar, a Punjab state university, has yesterday promoted the first and second year students into further classes. However, the fate of final year students still remains uncertain. “The teachers, students and the university authorities have been appealing continuously to the centre and the UGC, requesting them to review the guidelines. However, we still haven’t received a satisfactory answer form them”, says a faculty member from GNDU’s Jalandhar regional campus.
The former chairperson of the Commission and 27 other academicians, as per Indian Express, have also written to the centre against the examination guidelines of the UGC. The imperative question that they raised was “How holding a ‘farcical’ virtual exam that lacks the basic features of the real thing will enhance their (the degree’s) value?”
Whether it be a lack of technological infrastructure or the unavailability of study material, the students across India have been revolting against this move by the UGC. Students, reportedly, have been facing a lot of issues due to these fresh guidelines issued by the UGC.
Conforming to these guidelines, Delhi University last month announced that they shall be conducting online examination. However, students have been facing problems in dealing with lack of access to technology, system crashes, unawareness of the changes in the exam pattern, amongst a variety of other challenges posed by this situation.
UGC has notified that as many as 194 universities have already conducted their final year exams. Even after multiple appeals, there is a dearth of an effective response from the higher education body. This has posed the biggest adversity to the Indian education sphere by the Coronavirus Pandemic.
