Delhi cancels final exams for all diploma courses, to promote students on basis of internals, previous year's performance

The Board of Technical Education (BTE), Government of Delhi has cancelled all even semester examinations, including the final semester, for diploma course this year. The decision has been taken due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The students will be promoted on the basis of internal assessment and their previous year marks. According to a report by The Indian Express, 50 percent weightage will be given to the internal assessment of students, while the remaining 50 percent will be on the marks secured by them in the last year’s final examinations. Students having compartment or back in any of the earlier semester will have to clear that paper whenever the examination will be conducted in the future, the report mentioned an official notice by BTE as stating. A report by Careers 360 said that BTE has also mentioned in its notice that any student who wishes to improve his/her result in any of the subjects for the current semester under promotion criteria can opt to appear in the examination, whenever they will be held after the prevailing situation improves. The notice also said that students who have compartment in any of the previous semester and have completed their course duration + 2 years tenure as per BTE rules in May/June 2020 will be given one year’s additional time to qualify their diploma for all the semesters. The Delhi government provides three-year diploma courses in technical education through a number of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and other affiliated polytechnics. Recently, the Delhi government informed the Supreme Court that the exams in universities in the national capital have been cancelled. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and education minister Manish Sisodia has directed “all Delhi State Universities to cancel all written online and offline semester examinations including final year exams.” Last month, the Delhi government decided to cancel all the upcoming semester and final exams in universities that come under its jurisdiction. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, who is also the education minister of the capital, said that all students will be promoted to the next semester, while final year students will be awarded degrees on the basis of assessment methods decided by universities. The Delhi government objected to the guidelines of the University Grant Commission (UGC) that stated that the exams could be held in online, offline or “blended” mode.