Maharashtra Governor Allows Final Year Students to Give Exams Online, Says Minister Uday Samant

Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari has given permission to students to appear for the final year examinations online from home, state Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant said on Thursday.

He said the state government will request the University Grants Commission (UGC) to extend the existing deadline for conducting the examinations from September end to October end, and added that the toughness of the exams will also be reduced.

The Supreme Court had last week upheld the UGC guidelines and said that no state and university can promote students in the final year/terminal semester without conducting examinations. The court also ruled that the UGC's directives to universities and colleges to hold final-year exams by September 30 was well within its domain. "Governor B S Koshyari has given permission to the final year students to appear for exams online. They can give exams from their home," Samant said.

"We are also planning to bring the results out by October 31 to save the students' academic year," he added. Samant along with junior minister in the department Prajakt Tanpure had met Koshyari at the Raj Bhavan here on Wednesday to discuss the issue of conducting exams in light of the Supreme Court verdict.

The minister said he held a meeting with 13 vice chancellors of public universities on how to conduct the final year examinations as directed by the apex court. "We are planning to conduct the practical examinations in September itself. All the papers and their evaluation will be completed before October 31 and the result will be out by that time," he said.

"The practical exams could be held from September 15 onwards. We are also trying to hold these exams online instead of making the students visit colleges," he said. "We are also going to request the UGC to extend the existing deadline of conducting examinations from September end to October end. We will bring down the toughness of the exams as well," he said.

In its order, the SC had said that if any state or Union Territory, in exercise of its jurisdiction under the Disaster Management Act, has decided that it is not possibleto conduct the examination by September 30, then they can makean application to the UGC for extending the deadline.

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