Not practical to hold exams during COVID-19: Aaditya Thackeray to PM

MUMBAI: Maharashtra cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray on Monday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking postponement of university-level examinations as well as those of professional courses in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aaditya Thackeray, son of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, himself tweeted the letter written on letter head of his party Shiv Sena, which heads the MVA Government in the state.

The Centre favours holding JEE and CET examinations for which lakhs of students appear every year, but Aaditya Thackeray has been opposing them, citing the COVID-19 crisis. The youth wing of the Shiv Sena, the Yuva Sena which is headed by Aaditya Thackeray -- has already approached the Supreme Court seeking its intervention to postpone examinations.

It is not a practical and feasible option to hold examinations in such a situation. Most of the states are facing increasing numbers of COVID-19 (cases) along with red zones (which have reported positive cases)," Aaditya Thackeray said in the letter.

The state environment minister also demanded the postponement of the entire academic year. We may also think of starting our academic year from January 2021 instead of June/July 2020 so that no student loses the academic year, he said.

For non-professional courses, most of their academic assessment has been carried out and the final examination would not amount to more than 10 per cent of assessment. Hence, it may be passed on a marking system devised by the universities," Aaditya Thackeray.

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