20 May,2020 07:23 AM IST | | Pallavi Smart
Samants announcement comes a day after MU declared details of the final year exams to be held in July this year. File Pic/Sameer Markande
Maharashtra higher and technical education minister Uday Samant on Tuesday urged the University Grants Commission UGC via a letter to cancel the final year exams of undergraduate UG and post-graduate PG courses this year, taking into consideration the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Considering the COVID-19 pandemic in Maharashtra, as per recommendations of the state-level committee, conducting exams for final year students of UG and PG courses in July 2020 seems difficult. Considering the feasibility of conducting exams of approximately 8 to 10 lakh students by maintaining all safety protocols seems very challenging. Hence I am of the opinion that the final exams should not be conducted this year and I hereby request you to consider the option of promoting students without conducting exams of last year for UG, PG and grade them as per UGC guidelines," states Samant-s letter.
The announcement comes just a day after the Mumbai University MU declared details of the final year examinations to be held in July 2020. Therefore, Samant-s letter has created confusion among students, parents as well as the university circle.
"While the decision seems to be wise considering the current situation, this again has put students in confusion. Until now there was no clarity on what would happen to final examinations. Then MU declared a detailed plan on Monday, putting an end to anxiety among students. But now with this announcement, there is again a sense of confusion - especially until the UGC replies," a principal of a city college said requesting anonymity.
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While the state has written to UGC requesting to cancel final examinations of higher education courses, Common Entrance Test CET Cell of the Maharashtra government declared dates of MHT-CET examinations to be held in July and August. As told by Samant, 5,24,907 candidates are to appear for this examination.
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