Final year varsity exams in Maharashtra may be held in October, says state minister Uday Samant

Mumbai: Most of the non-agriculture universities in Maharashtra have asked the state government to request the UGC to allow holding off final year examinations and announcing results by 31 October, state minister Uday Samant said on Monday. There are 13 non-agriculture universities in the state. Of them, Amravati University and Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU) have suggested holding of examinations and declaring of results by 10 November, said Samant, who heads the Higher and Technical Education department. All universities have also agreed that it was not possible for students to step out of their homes to give examination given the COVID-19 threat, Samant said. He said the mode of examination will be declared on Wednesday. The examinations may be held in the first week of October and will be of lesser marks, the minister said. A total of 7,62,962 students will appear for the final year exams across universities, he said. “Amravati University and Yashwantrao Chavan Open University have said that a request be made to the UGC (University Grants Commission) for holding the examinations and announcing results by 10 November. “The remaining varsities, including that of Mumbai, Pune, and others, have demanded the state government to propose to the UGC to hold the exams and announce results by 31 October,” Samant told reporters. The universities have requested the state government to hold the meeting of state disaster management authority (SDMA) under Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to send a request to the UGC in this regard, the minister said, adding that the SDMA meeting is expected on Wednesday. On the mode of conducting exams, the minister said, “Vice-chancellors have suggested three ways of holding the examinations with an online or open book or assignment options. They have sought a day’s time on how these examinations will be held”. Upholding the UGC guidelines, the Supreme Court had last week held that no state and university can promote students in the final year/terminal semester without holding examinations, observing performance in such exams is a “reflection of competence” of the students.