With the lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic affecting the annual examination session at colleges, Maharshtra minister for higher and technical education, Uday Samant, on Monday interacted with all state university vice chancellors through a video call. The agenda was to calm the nerves of students by clearing any queries regarding the examination session, as well as help the government in fighting the ongoing pandemic.
“The minister urged all heads of universities to release a fresh exam schedule, as plan B for whenever the lockdown is lifted. This means we have to keep more than one exam schedule ready, for, if the lockdown does not end on April 14, then we need another schedule for the examination,” said one of the officials attending the virtual meeting on Monday.
Keeping in mind the pending curriculum, minister Uday Samant also inquired about the various techniques adopted by departments and institutes to ensure completion of the portion. “We put together a set of mobile and computer applications that could be used by all polytechnic and technical institutes in order to ensure that students are not at loss and their education is not affected. The application also checks attendance of teachers and teaching content everyday for transparency purposes,” said Abhay Wagh, director, state Directorate of Technical Education (DTE).
Apart from curriculum and examination, Samant also urged universities to set up think-tank labs in their respective universities to help solve the Covid-19 crisis in anyway possible. “University of Mumbai recently launched a helpline for their students and the minister has urged more universities to follow suit and reach out to more students in these times of crisis,” said another official.
{{/usCountry}}Apart from curriculum and examination, Samant also urged universities to set up think-tank labs in their respective universities to help solve the Covid-19 crisis in anyway possible. “University of Mumbai recently launched a helpline for their students and the minister has urged more universities to follow suit and reach out to more students in these times of crisis,” said another official.
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