Punjab CM Amarinder Singh writes to PM, seeks review of UGC directive on university, college final exams

In his letter, the CM has urged PM Modi to advise the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the UGC to reconsider its decision on mandatory conduct of final term exams by September, a government statement said Saturday.




Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has written to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking permission to let the state government adhere to its July 3 decision on cancellation of university/college examinations in view of the exponentially rising Covid cases.

In his letter, the Chief Minister has urged Prime Minister Modi to advise the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MoHRD) and the University Grants Commission (UGC) to reconsider its decision on mandatory conduct of final term exams by September, a government statement said Saturday.

“UGC may be asked to reiterate its earlier issued guidelines of April 29, 2020, wherein it had been clearly mentioned that the guidelines were advisory in nature and each state/university would chart out its own plan of action taking into consideration the issues pertaining to Covid-19 pandemic,” he urged the Prime Minister.

The Chief Minister noted that the state government, after due deliberation and taking into account the Covid19 situation and attendant issues of safety of students and staff, had on July 3 decided to cancel all pending UG and PG final term examinations and to promote students on the basis of performance in previous years/semesters.

“In addition, we have also allowed conduct of examinations for the purpose of improvement of grades for interested students, once the situation becomes conducive,” Amarinder pointed out, stressing that “this would ensure academic credibility, career opportunities, future prospects and fair and equal opportunity for students in both urban and rural areas”.

The state Higher Education Minister has written to the Union HRD Minister on Friday in this regard, the CM pointed out in the letter.

Amarinder further noted that the “battle against Covid-19 has entered a significant phase with number of cases increasing exponentially and various studies pointing to peaking of cases over the next few months”.

“In view of this rising trend of cases, I am not sure whether the situation will be conducive for conducting offline physical examinations by September,” he said, adding that conducting physical examination will also involve huge logistical and operational challenges, especially in view of large number of college/ university buildings and hostels having been taken over for Covid-19 management purposes.

On the other hand, stressed the Chief Minister, “conducting online examination for such large number of students, majority of whom reside in rural areas without assured access to computers/laptops and internet is also not possible in the state.”

Soon after the MHA orders and the pursuant guidelines of the UGC, issued on July 7, the CM had made it clear that he does not consider the situation to be conducive for holding exams.

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