Final-year exams in Maharashtra: Centre still to take call on issue

Despite the state government clarifying its stand to the Centre that Maharashtra is in no position to conduct exams for professional courses due to the ongoing Covid-19

Despite the state government clarifying its stand to the Centre that Maharashtra is in no position to conduct exams for professional courses due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, respective central examination councils which have to take a call on the issue, are still contemplating a final decision.

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“We’ve already held a meeting with vice-chancellors and senior officials of various technical institutes and universities across the country, and soon another meeting will be held to discuss the fate of examinations. We will share our views with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) at the earliest,” said Anil Sahasrabuddhe, chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

A decision taken by AICTE will apply to engineering, pharmacy, architecture, and management institutes across India.

Last week, the chief minister Uddhav Thackeray-led government reached out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to direct governing bodies of all professional courses to cancel final-year exams.

On June 19, state higher education minister Uday Samant announced that final-year exams for all non-professional courses will be optional, and students will have to submit a written undertaking to clarify their decision. However, a decision on ATKT (allowed to keep term) backlog of final-year students as well as the fate of professional courses were left pending.

“We have clearly stated in the letter that we are not in a position to conduct examinations. Now, the decision has to come from the Centre,” said a senior official from the state higher and technical education department.

Students, meanwhile, are worried, with many groups having approached the state government and Governor’s office, seeking clarity on the status of examinations. Many have also taken to social media to address the central government as well as the University Grants Commission (UGC).

“Constant changes and lack of clarity are leaving students in a fix, especially those who are pursuing degrees from different cities or plan to pursue higher education or a take up a job in the future. Any more delay will have severe effects on the future of final-year students,” said Siddharth Ingle, president of Maharashtra Students Union (MASU).