Maharashtra Minister reviews preparations of final year university exams to be held in Oct

Ahead of the final year examination in the state, Maharashtra Minister for Higher and Technical Education Uday Samant on Saturday, September 19, reviewed the preparations afoot in the varsities of the Marathwada area. The final year exams are scheduled to begin from October 1, 2020.

'A total of 1.14 lakh students will appear'

The Minister, who visited the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, said that as many as 1.14 lakh students will be appearing for the exams, including 36,000 repeaters. Samant also said that 92 per cent of all students had opted to appear for the exams in the online mode as being conducted by the varsities this time. Last week, the minister also cleared that no separate COVID-19 certificates would be issued to any student who appears in exams amid the pandemic.  

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Following the pandemic situation, the State Government of Maharashtra had earlier requested the University Grants Commission to extend the deadline of conducting the exams by September 30, 2020, as the state was not prepared for it. The exams will now to be conducted from next month.

The paper pattern for this year includes MCQ based online examinations and it will be a one hour long paper of 50 marks. As for the practical exam and viva voice, the examination would also be conducted online. This will be either through a phone call or on any of the available digital platforms.

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Speaking about some student outfits trying to agitate and block Samant's convoy on Friday in Jalgaon, some 195 kilometres from Aurangabad, he said he would write a letter to state home minister Anil Deshmukh to probe the issue. While addressing a press conference he said the agitations by such outfits were localised and done by lower-level functionaries to gain prominence within the hierarchy. 

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(With inputs from PTI) (Representative image)