The Week In Education: UGC guidelines, reopening colleges, schools

NEW DELHI: With the nation entering into the second phase of Unlock 5 this week, and exams and results being announced by universities one after the other, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued guidelines on re-opening colleges and universities.

This week also saw the first round of NEET UG counselling 2020 for MBBS and BDS courses starting. The NEET PG 2021, however, has been postponed. Some states have also started preparing SOPs for reopening of education institutions and a handful, including Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand, reopened schools after months.

These were the most important developments in education this week.

UGC Guidelines 2020: Reopening universities, colleges

After colleges and universities remained closed for over seven months, the UGC this week issued guidelines for their reopening in a graded manner. The UGC has given its go-ahead for reopening of universities and colleges located outside the containment zones after consultations with respective states governments and Union Territories.

The decision to reopen centrally funded institutions like the central universities, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) , Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and other centrally-run institutions will be taken by their heads. Similarly, states will decide on reopening state and private institutions independently and frame their own guidelines following the central pattern.

The UGC reopening guidelines suggest smaller class sizes that ensure no more than 50% of the students are attending at a time, holding classes in shifts, extending teaching hours, and focusing on online education.

NEET UG 2020 counselling registration

The Directorate General of Health Sciences (DGHS) completed the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG counselling 2020 registration for admissions to the All India Quota seats, which began on October 28.

NEET PG 2021 postponed

The National Board of Examinations (NBE) has postponed the NEET PG 2021 exam date without setting a new one. The decision of the postponement of NEET PG 2021 exam date was taken by the National Medical Commission (NMC), the apex medical regulator, which informed the NBE that the commission’s boards on undergraduate and postgraduate studies is discussing NEET PG 2021 and also consulting with stakeholders.

BCI allows law universities to conduct physical exams

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has allowed law universities to conduct exams where students appear in person but said that those who are unable or unwilling to appear till the COVID-19 pandemic is over can take the exam again after the physical reopening of the varsities. The BCI has clarified that the students who appear but are unable to clear the exam will also get a chance to reappear in the fresh exams.

JEE (Main) scam prime accused arrested

The Joint Entrance Exam Main scam which came to light last week led to the arrest of a topper from Assam in Guwahati. The Assam Police through a release informed that Bhargav Deka, the owner of a Guwahati based coaching institute Global Edu Light, has been apprehended. Police had launched a hunt to nab the two prime accused - Deka and a Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) employee - in connection with the examination scam in which a candidate used a proxy and topped in the state.

School Reopening

With some states cautiously moving ahead to reopen schools in their states, this week Tamil Nadu School Education Minister K A Sengottaiyan also reviewed the safety measures to be taken for students ahead of the reopening of schools for Class 11 and 12. The state government had announced the reopening of schools for Classes 9 to 12 from November 16.

On similar lines, Gujarat state education department has decided to prepare a set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to be followed by students and authorities. Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama this week held an urgent meeting with department officials and asked them to start preparing SOPs for educational institutions. The state government is planning to open schools from standards 9 to 12, colleges as well as universities.

Andhra Pradesh reopened schools and over 250 students and teachers tested positive for COVID-19. Uttarakhand reopened schools as well.

IP University launches PG diploma courses

Delhi’s Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (IP University) has launched three new postgraduate (PG) diploma programmes in entrepreneurship and start-Up, pg diploma in equity research and pg diploma in data analytics from the 2020 academic session. The admission process for these three programmes has started and candidates can submit the application form till November 22, 2020.

The admission to these three programmes will be conducted on the basis of marks obtained in the last qualifying exams.

IIT Delhi to set up a campus abroad

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi held its 51st annual convocation this week where 873 students received undergraduate degrees, including 744 BTech. degrees and 105 BTech-MTech dual degrees. This year, out of the 298 students were also awarded PhD degrees, of which every third student is a woman.

IIT Delhi director during a press conference held prior to the convocation also announced that the institute will soon come up with a campus outside the country

No CA exam in online mode, ICAI tells SC

The Institute of Chartered Accountants India during a hearing at the Supreme Court has informed the apex court that it is not possible to conduct the ICAI CA November 2020 exams online. The institute informed that the CA exams test the analytical skills of the students and it will not be possible to test that in online mode.

Due to the Covid 19 situation, students have been demanding to conduct the ICAI CA November 2020 exams online. The ICAI has explained that the 3 hour-long exam asks for solutions in detail which cannot be possible with just tick mark based format.

Also read:

• The Week In Education: JEE Main topper arrested, DU turmoil, Unlock 5
  
• The Week In Education: Big fight in DU and NEET raises questions
  

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