Online exams if possible or pen-and-paper exams after lockdown, V-C headed panels tell UGC

The panels have suggested that universities & colleges should take a call on whether to begin new session after looking at the Covid-19 situation in their respective areas.

Representational Image | Students at Delhi University | Photo: www.du.ac.in

New Delhi: Universities should conduct online exams if they have the wherewithal or wait for the lockdown to get over and then decide a date for pen-and-paper examinations. Two expert committees led by vice-chancellors (V-C) have recommended this to the University Grants Commission (UGC), ThePrint has learnt.

Semester exams are pending in most of the universities and colleges due to the lockdown.

The two committees were constituted by the UGC to look into the issues of academic loss and online education in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown in the country. The issues pertained to holding of exams, online classes and the new academic session.

One of the committees is led by Haryana University Vice-Chancellor R.C. Kuhad. It was formed to look into the ways of conducting exams in universities amid the lockdown. The other committee, formed to suggest measures to improve online education, is led by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) V-C Nageshwar Rao.

Both the committees have submitted their reports to the UGC Friday and the government is now expected to issue a set of guidelines for universities and colleges by early next week based on the recommendations.

Confirming the development, UGC Secretary Rajnish Jain told ThePrint: “The committees have submitted their report today. The government will now look at the recommendations and issue guidelines based on that by next week.” 

He, however, refused to divulge other details of the reports. 

‘Reports are not binding in nature’

Sources in the UGC and in the committees told ThePrint that the members of the panels have given a lot of freedom to universities and have left it upto them on how they want to take the academic session forward.

A source in the UGC, who is privy to the reports, said, “The reports are not binding in nature and a mere suggestion to the universities. The recommendations include conducting online exams wherever possible. If a university has the means, including the infrastructure to conduct online exams, they should go ahead with it. Ones that do not have the means should wait for the lockdown to get over and then conduct a pen and paper exam.

“One of the suggestions is to promote students on the basis of their performance in the previous semesters, if a university is unable to conduct exams. The committees have suggested that the number of papers be reduced in case the universities want to hold fresh assessment and are not willing to promote students on the basis of their past performance,” the source added.

Look at local situations before starting new session

Holding online exams is something the UGC officials did not agree to because they felt universities, specially the ones in the far-flung areas, do not have the means to conduct them.

On the beginning of the new academic session, the committees suggested that the universities should take a call looking at the Covid-19 situation locally. 

“If an area has less coronavirus cases or it is declared a green zone by the government, universities in that area can decide to start the academic sessions as per schedule but if the local situation does not permit, they will have to wait,” said a member of one of the committees, who didn’t want to be named. 

Usually, the new academic session begins between July and August in universities and colleges. But this year, there is a huge uncertainty on that front in the wake of the pandemic.