New Delhi: The nationwide COVID-19 outbreak forced the Modi government to extend the lockdown period till May 3 and the continuous increase in positive cases indicate yet another phase of lockdown with eased norms.
The prolonged lockdown has brought regular academics to a standstill in the country.
As the agencies, organisations and institutions responsible for conducting different examinations are yet to come up with a solution on how the pending examinations will be held and evaluation process be started, lakhs of students across the country await for any positive development in this regard.
University Grants Commission appointed an expert committee of vice-chancellors who submitted their report on 24th of April, indicating at an official announcement expected to be made by next week, according to sources.
The committee headed by Haryana University Vice-Chancellor RC Kuhad was assigned to look into the issue of conducting exams amid lockdown.
The government might announce guidelines for conducting examinations by next week to universities and colleges based on the recommendations of the expert committee.
The expert committee had to see the possibility of online examinations and various aspects related to it as well.
However, experts suggest that universities should be allowed to take calls based on the facilities and infrastructure they hold.
"Universities should be given more autonomy and be allowed to conduct online examinations or in any other format they find better for assessment of the performance of their students, " suggested Manipadma Datta, Vice Chancellor TERI School of Advanced Studies.
"Universities can opt for assignment based exams, open book system or online methods- depending on their suitability. We have innovative faculty and we started conducting online classes much before this lockdown was even announced as we care for the health, hygiene and safety of our students," he added.
There are a number of universities and colleges across the country who have the infrastructure to conduct online examinations, most of them located in urban areas or metro cities. But institutions located in remote or rural areas face the challenge as they do not have proper connectivity and their students are less familiar with the online medium.
Prof. Datta suggested that segregation of two different categories should be done, where there is a possibility of conducting it online and universities should be given authority based on directive principles.
"There should be separate guidelines for rural areas and universities or colleges located in urban areas with proper connectivity and other facilities. Those who can counter with the situation should be given autonomy and that should be respected on the basis of some directive principles" said Prof. Datta to ETV Bharat.
Lakhs of students are waiting for the examinations which were either stopped in between or had to be postponed after the lockdown was announced.
Usually, the examinations are conducted in March and April with some competitive examinations in May also. The new academic session normally starts from July-August for higher education. Due to COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown situation, the normal academic cycle has already been disturbed and any clarity on this will possibly come next week.
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