Amidst the pandemic lockdown, the committees have proposed universities and colleges to take a call whether to start a new session after the Isolation period in their respective areas.
The two specialist panels led by VCs have suggested to the University Grants Commission(UGC) that Institutes should conduct online exams if they are capable or wait for the end of the lockdown. The two assemblies, constituted by UGC was conducted to look into the problems related to academic failures, online mode of classes and commencement of the new session.
The two committee includes VC of Haryana University R.C Kuhad, which mainly aimed to find a direction of conducting exams and the other one was led by VC of Indira Gandhi National Open University(IGNOU) Mr. Nageshwar Rao to improve online teaching.
The committees have already submitted their reports on Friday to UGC and the government will shortly issue a pack of guidelines for universities and colleges, hopefully, next week after based on recommendations.
Reports are not restricting in nature.
The sources in the UGC has informed that ample independence has been provided to the University about how they want to conduct the semester examinations by the panel.
It is a mere recommendation to the university to conduct online exams if they have sufficient resources which include building as well. If not, so they have to halt until the crises get over for offline mode of semester papers.
The committees have also discussed to promote students on the criteria of their previous semester exams if the university is not in a state to conduct examinations. In addition to this, the panel has also proposed to cut short the number of papers, if University wants to start the new session and are not willing to promote the students on the basis of old semester’s performance
Look at the regional situation prior to start new session .
The UGC officials are not in support of online exams as far-flung universities do not have enough reserves to proceed with it.
For starting a new session, one should take care of the local Corona Virus cases.
“If a region is declared a green zone by the government officials, they can begin the new session as per the scheme. But if the local situation seems to be contrary, the university has to wait till further notice” said an anonymous member of the panel.
Usually, fresh session starts in July or August but this is an absolutely new case of pandemic and certainly, the session commencement will be extended further.
~Varsha Verma
Source: The Print
