Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh Sunday announced postponement of exit class exams in all universities and affiliated colleges of the state till 15 July.
In a press release issued Sunday, the Chief Minister’s Office said a final decision on this will be, however, subject to the new directions/guidelines expected to be issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) any time.
The fresh set of guidelines from the UGC are being finalised by a committee headed by R.C. Kuhad, Vice-Chancellor of the Central University in Haryana.
Talking to ThePrint, Kuhad said the committee will work through the day Sunday to finalise the guidelines. They will be made public soon, he added.
Union Minister for Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had last week asked the UGC to revisit its guidelines regarding the conduct of final semester exams.
I have advised the @ugc_india to revisit the guidelines issued earlier for intermediate and Terminal Semester examinations and academic calendar. The foundation for revisited guidelines shall be health and safety students, teachers and staff.@PIB_India @MIB_India @DDNewslive
— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) June 24, 2020
Universities in Punjab had decided to conduct exams of exit classes in July, following the UGC guidelines issued on 29 April.
While the Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar was to conduct final semester exams from 1 July, the Punjabi University in Patiala had decided to hold it from 10 July.
Both universities had issued date sheets and also a detailed set of instructions regarding the conduct of exams following social distancing norms.
Also read: Don’t expect big changes in DU cut-offs, say teachers, even though CBSE cancelled exams
Several states have cancelled exams
While several states have decided to cancel exams, Punjab had stuck to its decision to hold physical conduct of tests. Amarinder Singh had also said his government cannot cancel exams without the approval of UGC, which regulates the working of universities.
Neighbouring Haryana had, however, decided to cancel exams of exit classes on 23 June without waiting for the UGC guidelines.
The cancellation order, issued by Ankur Gupta, Principal Secretary, Higher Education in Haryana, read: “Examinations of all terminal semester and intermediate semesters for higher and technical Education of all courses will not be conducted and all the students shall be promoted to next semester with 50 per cent weightage of marks of internal assessment / assignment plus 50 per cent weight age of the marks in previous examination.”
It also said: “Students will have the option for examinations for improvement of grades later through physical examinations once normalcy prevails in the state.”
Haryana also gave its universities an option to conduct online examination “if and only if” the “university is fully prepared and equipped for the same and will also ensure that all students are able to take online examinations”.
The Maharashtra government, on 20 June, also decided to cancel exit class examinations. Odisha and some other states had likewise announced the cancellation of exams early this month.
Given the spike in Covid-19 cases in the country, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) informed the Supreme Court on 26 June that the pending Class 10 and 12 exams, which were scheduled to be held in July, would be cancelled.
Also read: IIT Bombay goes fully online for next semester, IIT Delhi could soon follow suit
Sir govt of Gujarat and GTU(Gujarat Technological University) forcing us to give final year engineering offline written exam starting from 2-july . Please help us by covering this issue on your platform. Request from depressed student to Reputed media group.
The story of Kerala university is not different , in the middle of pandemic they have conducted the terminal UG exams in June. It was rediculous to think of those exam days .I reached the college after taking 2 buses. In the college campus most of them were sitting together , shared lunch ….I felt it was a normal day . In addition lack of buses to return home. Uff !!!all were stuck . Before entering the exam Hall they insisted us to have thermal scanning(only precaution Govt given us ). From tommorow onwards we are having our praticals . Students are travelling from different parts of the state to write the exam . 3 hrs exam , way to college ,way back . No one is concerned about our life . We have done our level best by requesting, or protesting etc against the govt but ended in vain . Felling rejected …when all others are praising Govt of Kerala . Even feeling regretted for electing them as our representative. They never lend their ears to us . Guys just pray for us .
Sir plz.., tell the CM of Punjab that there are some student which are stuck in chandigarh and other place of Punjab.. From different states. They are waiting for year xam… When will conducted by university… They also want to go home…. Plz sir help…
Please cover gujrat technoligal University they start exam form 3 rd july