NEW DELHI, INDIA:
Schools and colleges across the country have been closed for a long time due to the ever increasing outbreak of Corona. However, children are being taught in schools through online classes. Unlocked Phase 2 has started after the lockdown that ended on 31 May. Infection cases have not decreased, rather they are increasing day by day. Keeping this in mind, the University Grants Commission i.e. UGC released a new guide line on Monday about the final year / semester examinations and academic calendar of all universities across the country.
Union Human Resource Development Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank informed this guideline by tweeting. In this guide line, the UGC has abolished the compulsory examination in July. Also, final year examinations are now allowed to be conducted by the end of September. These exams are allowed to be conducted both online and offline by any means. Apart from this, the UGC has approved universities and colleges to hold examinations by September 30, 2020, depending on the circumstances. At the same time, the UGC has also said to give information about the conduct of these examinations.
According to the guidelines, the evaluation of intermediate semester students will be based on internal evaluation. The UGC had constituted a high level committee headed by the Vice Chancellor of Haryana Central University for the guide line. The UGC Board took this decision after the committee’s report. The UGC has instructed universities and colleges in the guideline to investigate the reasons if a final year student is not able to take the examinations even after that, if the reasons are found to be appropriate, then the opportunity to be given later. In the UGC Board meeting, it was agreed to issue a separate guideline for the new academic session and entrance examinations. Guidelines were released after the permission of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
It is noteworthy that the UGC had earlier described how universities and colleges would function once again. The colleges were expected to reopen from September for the new batch and students were to start getting admission from August. The UGC, in earlier guidelines, suggested colleges and universities to continue online education. Also said that if the situation improves, at least 25 percent syllabus should be covered online. At the same time, the UGC will probably issue guidelines today, on the basis of which the functioning of the new academic session and the future of the pending examinations will be decided.