31 students of Universities move Supreme Court against UGC’s final exam rules

Mysore/Mysuru: Exams for the final year students of the University of Mysore will be held in September as directed by the State Government. The examination process will be completed by the end of September, said University of Mysore Vice-Chancellor (VC)  Prof. G. Hemantha Kumar. 

Speaking to Star of Mysore, the VC said that graduation and post-graduation exams will be conducted only for final semester while intermediate semester students will be promoted based on a comprehensive evaluation scheme. He said that a discussion was on in the University with Department Heads and a time- table will be announced soon. 

As per the direction from the Government, all Universities are required to complete the examinations for final year students by end of September 2020 in offline/online/blended (offline + online) mode following protocols related to COVID-19 pandemic. Across the nation too, the same system is being followed and 760 of the 900 Universities have agreed to conduct the examinations as per the guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC), he said. 

Exams will be conducted for only those intermediate semester students of graduate and post-graduate courses who have kept a backlog of subjects. These exams will be conducted following the social distance norms. As the number of students who have backlog subjects is less, examinations can easily be conducted with social distancing, he added. 

Meanwhile, a group of 31 students have filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the UGC on its decision to conduct final year exams, compulsorily, by September end. The case has been listed for the hearing on July 27.

The students, from Karnataka, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Meghalaya and many other States, have sought to quash the UGC notice released on July 6, in which the Commission has asked Universities to compulsorily conduct the final year exams by September 30. 

It has asked the Universities to conduct the exams in offline mode using pen and paper; online mode or else by opting for blended mode of exam in which exams will be held in both online and offline mode.