New UGC guidelines to be released within 2 days

Follow us on

"When will UGC issue new guidelines," social media is abuzz with this question as students yearn for clarity on their examinations. While some states have decided against the holding of exams, uncertainty is looming large over others as the University Grants Commission is yet to issue an official communication in this regard. Students are expecting a uniform decision on final year assessment. Recently, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had also asked the UGC to "revisit" its guidelines on conducting exams and the next academic calendar amid rising COVID-19 cases. The foundation for revisited guidelines shall be health and safety of students, the minister had highlighted. The guidelines, however, haven't been issued till date. Until when will students wait?

New UGC guidelines will be released within 1-2 days, sources have confirmed to indiatvnews.com. This would end the wait of lakhs of students who are in a cliffhanger-like situation. Back in April, the higher education regulator had issued a set of guidelines that said fresh admissions were to be completed in August and classes scheduled to begin in September. The guidelines allowed universities to choose their modes of examinations. 

A LOOK AT PREVIOUS UGC GUIDELINES:

1. Issuing the guidelines in April-end, the UGC allowed universities to conduct semester exams in July either online or offline depending upon feasibility and the COVID-19 situation. It also asked the varsities to reduce the exam duration from three hours to two hours. 
2. The commission had said the exams for final semester students will be conducted in July. It recommended that intermediate semester students may either be evaluated on the basis of internal assessment or in states where the COVID-19 situation has normalised. 
3. The UGC asked the universities to take a call whether to conduct exams online or offline keeping in view support system available with them and ensuring fair opportunity to all students. 
4. It had also said that in case the situation does not appear to be normal in view of COVID-19, the safety and health of students be prioritised and their grading could be composite of 50 percent marks on the basis of internal evaluation and the remaining 50 percent marks can be awarded on the basis of performance in the previous semester. 
5. "The situation where previous semester or previous year marks are not available, particularly in the first year of annual pattern of examinations, 100 per cent evaluation may be done on the basis of internal assessments. The internal evaluation can be continuous evaluation, prelims, mid-semester, internal evaluation or whatever name is given for student progression.
6. The UGC had said if the student wishes to improve the grades, he or she may appear in special exams for such subjects during the next semester.

DU STUDENTS PROTEST OPEN BOOK EXAMS

Delhi University students reported multiple issues while taking online open book mock exams. Technical errors kept showing to students as the tried logging in on the official DU website. Some said the question paper was incorrect. The Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) said it was flooded with panic mails from students. READ MORE DETAILS. Meanwhile, the India Wide Parents Association on Saturday also wrote to HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank urging to scrap DU OBE exams and listed out a number of reasons. READ MORE DETAILS.