‘Not practical, feasible to hold exams’

MUMBAI: State cabinet minister and Yuva Sena president Aaditya Thackeray has written to Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, requesting the Centre to postpone all academic activities and to consider the commencement of the new academic year from January 2021, so that students do not lose a year.

The Sena legislator, in his letter, stated that various institutions and universities are scheduling exams amid the Covid-19 outbreak, which is not a “practical and feasible” idea considering the rising number of cases in the country.

“While most of our country is still working from home, various institutions and universities for professional and non-professional courses have been trying to schedule examinations. This isn’t a practical and feasible option sir, as most states are witnessing increasing numbers of Covid cases, with red zones still in place and transportation yet to resume,” said Thackeray, who is also the state’s tourism minister.

He also asked PM Modi to consider changing the commencement of the current academic year to January.

“We may also think of starting our academic year from January 2021 instead of June/july 2020 so that no student loses the academic year. Sir, I’m sure that with this intervention, we would be able to prevent a larger spike in infection and contribute to our fight in keeping our citizens safe.”

Last week, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray also asked the state education department to consider the idea of changing the academic year to January from June in the light of the delay in kicking off the academic year.

The Sena-led state government has been opposing the Centre’s decision to hold final-year exams amid the pandemic. Thackeray in his letter stated that wherever institutes were reopened, a large number of people were infected with Covid.

“In our country, most students live with their parents and grandparents and the infection can be fatal [to families]. Even for a single exam paper, students, teachers, non-teaching staff and many more from the state apparatus, most of whom are in the high-risk groups, will be threatened. Sir, I humbly request you to intervene and postpone all academic activities that have to do with physical or online exams across the country,” the tourism minister wrote.