Decision on univ exams on July 2: Deputy CM

› The MHRD and the UGC will come up with some new guidelines by July 1 and in light of that, the state government will take a final call on July 2, DINESH SHARMA, deputy CM

LUCKNOW After a committee of four vice chancellors recommended cancellation of annual examinations in universities across the state in view of a spike in Covid-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh, deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma said a final decision on the issue will be taken on July 2.

“The union ministry of human resource development and the University Grants Commission will come up with some new guidelines by July 1 and in light of that, the state government will take a final call on July 2,” he said.

Sources said chief minister Yogi Adityanath held meetings with senior officials of the higher, technical and secondary education departments wherein it was decided to wait for guidelines from the centre and then proceed accordingly.

The committee of four vice chancellors had suggested a few formulae for promoting students to the next class.

Earlier in the day, Chaudhary Charan Singh University (Meerut) vice chancellor Prof NK Taneja, who heads the committee, said the report had been finalised. He said, “The final decision rests with the state government. Beyond this point, I cannot speak much on the subject as it will amount to a breach of trust.”

In fact, the committee members prepared two reports.

While one report recommended cancellation of the examinations, the other report was on the methodology of teaching to be followed for the new academic session.

The committee members deliberated on the observations made by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court over the prevailing situation and whether holding offline examinations would be proper or not in the current Covid-19 backdrop.

They also discussed the high court observations and whether facilities for sanitisation of premises, including classrooms, arrangements for thermal scanning and proper social distancing were available with the universities for the purpose of holding the examinations.

“There are diverse cases in which a number of universities had to suspend their exams midway because of Covid-19. A few completed most of their examinations and in some cases, exams were yet to start. The key issue before the government is what will be the criteria to promote students,” said principal secretary, higher education, Monika S Garg.

Universities and schools across the state were closed around March 17. Although the lockdown eased, the educational institutions continued to remain closed with teachers running online classes for students.

On Friday, the state government formed the four-member committee headed by Prof Taneja to suggest how university exams can be conducted.

The other three members are Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University (Agra) vice chancellor Ashok Mittal, Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj University (Kanpur) vice chancellor Prof Neelima Gupta and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University (Ayodhya) vice chancellor Prof Manoj Dixit.