Exams during Covid: 177 universities yet to decide on conducting examinations, says UGC

The University Grants Commission said on Thursday that it approached 640 universities to learn the status of the conduct of examination after a long delay due to Coronavirus pandemic. The UGC informed that out of the total 640 universities, 454 have either conducted the examination or are planning to conduct in the near future.

A total of 177 universities are yet to decide on the conduct of examination. In case of 27 private universities that were established during 2019-20 to till date, the first batch is yet to become eligible for final examination, the UGC said. While several universities across the country have decided to conduct examinations while adhering to COVID-19 guidelines issued by the UGC, the Mumbai University has strictly opposed to the decision, seeking to cancel teh examinations in wake of COVID-19 situation. 

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Mumbai University examination row

Mumbai University has signed a letter along with other varsities from across the country writing to the UGC for cancellation of exams. The University Grants Commission had moved the conducting of examinations from July to September. It had urged the varsities to conduct a combination of online and offline tests for the final year students. In the letter along with the health risk, several adversities of the virus were mentioned, it is a high risk for any student with pre-existing health conditions.

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Furthermore, online infrastructure is unavailable to many in the country. The UGC had revealed a unique open book examination pattern, however, the letter mentions that OBE plays with the fundamentals of examinations. The UGC is yet to respond to all the letters that were written to them, a formal statement is yet to be made.

The state education minister of Maharashtra stands firm on the decision of not conducting exams in the state. The state is looking at passing 3.9 lakh students which reportedly includes the backlog students. Mumbai University is also one of the varsity which is looking at giving a final statement to the students.

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