Maharashtra govt urges UGC to cancel final year exams this year

NEW DELHI: Amidst the growing concerns over the final year examinations, the Minister of Higher and Technical Education in Maharashtra, Uday Samant wrote a letter to UGC asking for the cancellation of the examinations and promoting students without exams.

The minister also suggested the commission to issue guidelines on the option of the grading system.

“In view of COVID-19 pandemic situation in Maharashtra and considering the feasibility of conducting the exams of approximately 8 lakhs to 10 lakhs students from all across Maharashtra and India by maintaining all safety protocols seems very challenging and may endanger the safety and health of the students. Hence, I am of the opinion that the final term examinations should not be conducted this year,” writes minister.

The state-level committee which was appointed on April 29 submitted their report on May 6 suggesting that the first and second-year students must be promoted to next year without examinations, which was then later accepted by the state government, However, this move faced a lot of backlash from the student unions of various universities in the state.

Maharashtra student’s union (MASU) has earlier appealed to the chief minister Uddhav Thackrey and education minister suggesting for the cancellation of examinations. The recent letter by MASU quoted “Maharashtra Students Union, MASU has once again submitted a letter through an e-mail to the Minister of State for Higher and Technical Education dated 15/05/2020 stating that average marks should also be given to final year students on the basis of paragraph 5 of UGC examination guidelines."

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Maharashtra to promote first, second-year college students: Minister