Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' has asked the University Grant Commission (UGC) to go through the guidelines issued earlier by his department for intermediate and terminal semester examination, and the academic calendar.
New Delhi: If officials are to be believed then, the exams for final year students in universities and higher education institutions which were to be held in July may get cancelled due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country. Sources told that the commencement of the session may get deferred till October this year.
On Wednesday, Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' has asked the University Grant Commission (UGC) to go through the guidelines issued earlier by his department for intermediate and terminal semester examination, and the academic calendar.
According to officials, a panel headed by Haryana University Vice-Chancellor R C Kuhad has been asked to revisit the guidelines and come up with an alternative option.
The new guidelines are expected to be released by this week.
A senior official told, “The ministry has made it clear that the foundation for the revisited guidelines shall be for the health and the safety of the students, teachers and staff. The expert committee of the view that the examination in most universities as per the revised academic calendar be cancelled and marks for the final examination be awarded based on the past performance of each student."
The students who are dissatisfied with this marking scheme can be given a second chance of improvement by taking an examination later when the pandemic subsides, added the official.
"Similarly the commencement of the new academic session, which was earlier planned for already enrolled students from August and freshers from September, is likely to be deferred to October. The deliberations are on and the final guidelines in this regard will be announced shortly. However, any guidelines framed will be subject to review depending on COVID-19 situation," the official said.