Yuva Sena moves SC over final year exams

Aaditya Thackeray-led Yuva Sena has moved the Supreme Court to challenge the UGC decision to hold final-year examinations before September 30.

Yuva Sena secretary Varun Sardesai said that the his organisation has challenged the UGC guidelines on the matter and requested the Supreme Court that each university may be allowed to chart out its own plan of action with respect to terminal semester/final-year examinations depending on the conditions in their respective states so as to provide relief to students.

In a series of tweet, the Yuva Sena president Aaditya Thackeray said, “Yuva Sena has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court with a humble prayer to save lives of lakhs of students, teachers, non teaching staff and their families by asking the UGC to not be stubborn about enforcing examinations when India has crossed the 10 lakh cases mark (sic).”

He also said that they believe that academic excellence can’t be judged by one examination and for academic excellence, we must calculate the aggregate marks of the past semesters. Beyond which, if students still feel the need to appear for an examination, they voluntarily may do so post Covid-19.

“The petition is for each and every student across the country, being forced to appear for an examination in an absolutely bizarre judgment of the situation by UGC and nonflexibility when it comes to human safety (sic),” said Mr Thackeray, who is also a Cabinet minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

The state government has already cancelled the final year/final semester examinations for professional and non-professional courses. Besides Maharashtra, seven other states have also cancelled the final year exams. Referring to the University Grant Commission (UGC)’s circular asking states to conduct the final year exams, the Yuva Sena secretary said it was impossible to do so amid apprehensions about the spread of infection in a state like Maharashtra which has 10 lakh students.