Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said that the Final Year students of Under Graduate (UG) and Post Graduate (PG) courses will be given average marks of previous semesters and the examinations will not be conducted on a mandatory basis.
The Chief Minister said that the Vice-Chancellors of various universities are of the view that the exams should not be conducted immediately due to coronavirus pandemic. "They are concerned about the safety of students," he said.
Uddhav added that those students who are not satisfied and want to increase their score, they can appear for an optional exam, possibly in October.
Earlier, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had asked Thackeray to resolve the issue of the final year examinations ‘without any further delay in the larger interest of students’.
The Governer had also taken a strong objection to Higher Education Minister Uday Samant's letter to the University Grants Commission (UGC). Samant had written to the UGC to consider promoting the final year students without conducting the exams.
Koshyari had said it was "unwarranted intervention" and "violation of UGC guidelines and also the relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016". He added that it would not be "ethical or appropriate" to award degrees to final year students without conducting examinations, which results in violation of the provisions of the Universities Act.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Government has initiated 'Mission Begin Again' from June 1 to June 30 and has come up with its guidelines for the phase-wise opening of the lockdown enforced due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
