Maharashtra colleges can conduct online or offline exams depending on situation, says Samant: Report

NEW DELHI: The Maharashtra higher and technical education minister Uday Samant said on Monday that colleges and universities in the state can hold online or offline exams depending on the situation in their area, the Times of India reported. The minister was addressing the convocation ceremony of Savitribai Phule Pune University.

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Owing to the new variant of COVID-19, colleges have been advised to conduct examinations in both modes, Samant reportedly said.

“The future will be for offline examinations only. Online examinations are only a substitute for the impending situation during the pandemic. However, as the situation improves, we will go back to offline exams. Students should not remain under the guise of online examinations forever,” Samant was quoted as saying.

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In addition to this, he reportedly said that every district should form an examination panel which can hold discussions with the disaster management department and district collector to decide the mode of exams.

Meanwhile, students of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University, Lucknow have sought intervention of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath to cancel the offline exams due to Omicron fears. Several students have taken to social media after the University announced to conduct offline exams for the regular and carry over-exams of odd semester for the undergraduate and postgraduate students on December 28.

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Earlier in November, Anna University decided to conduct offline semester examinations for undergraduate and postgraduate students of engineering which left several private engineering colleges unhappy, The New Indian Express reported.

Further, in a related development, a fake notice on offline exams in all universities for semester exams had been circulating on social media, PIB Fact Check warned students. It said that the University Grants Commission (UGC) has not issued any such notice.