No student will commute to exam centre: Samant

Final decision on mode of exam in October likely to be taken in the next 2-3 days

No student will have to commute to the examination centre as they can appear for final year university exams from their homes, announced Uday Samant, higher and technical education minister of Maharashtra on Wednesday. A final decision regarding mode of exams, likely to be conducted in the first week of October with result declaration by October-end, will be taken in the next two to three days.

Over 8 lakh final year students are waiting to appear for their exams following the direction of the Supreme Court (SC) that states have to conduct exams as per University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines. Rashid Wazir, a final-year Science student said, "Now that exams will be conducted, I am worried about how I will appear because I do not have internet connection throughout the day. I retur ned to my native village due to the lockdown."

Students have raised the issue of availability of computer and accessibility to inter net connection to appear for exams from home. Jagruti Kadwadkar, a final-year Arts student said, "How am I supposed to appear for an assignment, project based or virtual exam from home when I do not have inter net access? Will the state gover nment or university provide us with technical support if exams are being conducted through virtual mode?"

On being questioned about lack of technical facilities and provision of inter net connection, Samant said, "Conducting exams is the sole responsibility of the respective university. We are discussing with Vice-Chancellors (VC) of 13 state universities about the easiest and feasible modes to conduct exams. We need to understand that the challenges of the ground situation in Nagpur or Vidarbha districts are different from Mumbai or Pune. The state gover nment will provide all the required support to universities to conduct exams."

In addition, Samant said that a meeting with VCs will be held on Thursday followed by the state disaster management authority and the Chief Minister (CM) of Maharashtra. Samant stated, "We will come up with a final decision regarding mode of exams in the next two to three days."

How am I supposed to appear for an assignment, project based or virtual exam from home when I do not have the internet? –Jagruti Kadwadkar, a final-year (Arts) student