Guv, Edu min meet to study exam time
Governor to meet 13 VCs of non-agricultural universities today
The Maharashtra Minister of Higher and Technical Education Uday Samant and his deputy along with the additional chief secretary Rajiv Jalota on Wednesday met the Governor BS Koshyari and discussed holding the final year examinations during the present Covid 19 crisis. The Governor has opined exams be conducted in a simple manner keeping the students’ safety in mind. The Governor being the Chancellor will meet the 13 Vice Chancellors of the non- agricultural universities on Thursday to discuss the roadmap.
As reported by Free Press Journal, there has been unanimity among the VCs and the state government that more than 7.92 lakh students need not have to be called at the examination centres to write papers but they can do it online sitting at homes.
Raj Bhavan in a release said, ‘’Minister of Higher Education Uday Samant accompanied by Minister of State Prajakt Tanpure met Governor BS Koshyari. The issue conducting final year examinations of universities as per the directions of the Hon Supreme Court was discussed.’’
Today’s meeting was crucial as the Governor on May 22 in a letter to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had taken a strong objection to Samant’s letter to the University Grants Commission (UGC) recommending the cancellation of final year examinations. The Governor had asked Thackeray to issue suitable instructions to Samant for his ‘’unwarranted intervention’’ which was in ‘’violation’’ of UGC guidelines and also the relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016.
Samant today briefed him on his interaction with the VCs and education experts saying that they were unanimous that students should not be called at the examination centres during the present Covid 19 crisis. Various options including online, offline, open book and assignment based examinations were discussed so that students can write their papers sitting at their homes.
He also informed the Governor about the six member committee chaired by the Mumbai University VC Dr Suhas Pednekar to make suggestions to the government on conducting final year exams.