The Vice-Chancellors committee of all the universities in Maharashtra has recommended in its report to the state government that each final year examination paper of professional and non-professional courses can be of 50 marks with a duration of 1 hour each, for completion. The viva or oral examinations can be held through Skype or other such applications or over the phone.
The VCs have been asked by the state government to submit their exam timetable and other such details by the 7th of September, following which the recommendation will be placed before the state disaster management authority for the final approval, Uday Samant, the state higher and technical education minister confirmed.
The Suhas Pednekar led committee, which was formed after the ruling of the Supreme Court that no student should be promoted without examinations, was responsible to suggest how the exams could be conducted safely. On Friday, the committee submitted its report with 11 recommendations to the state higher and technical education department.
Samant said, “The committee has recommended that the students should be allowed to appear for exams from home. It has also recommended that each paper can be of 50 marks with a duration of one hour to complete. Oral exams or viva can be held through Skype and other such application or over the phone. The format of exams will have to be decided by the Board of Examinations and Academic Council of the universities.” Further, he added that they have various available options like an open book exam, multiple-choice question (MCQ), optical mark recognition (OMR) or assignment-based exams.
The committee also advocated pursuing extension up till the 31st of October from the University Grants Commission (UGC) to complete the examination process.
Samant added by saying that offline or physical exams will only be taken where the students are incapable of appearing for the online exams.
However, as per the reports, almost 90% of the students have access to mobile phone or desktops which can be used for the online exams. The remaining 10% who do not have access to either of them or have connectivity issue will be allowed to appear for the exams physically at the Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL) centres, the officials pronounced.
The report also mentioned that the examination process, including the declaration of the results, can be complete by the 31st of October and the admission for the next academic year can begin from the 1st of November, an official added.
The practical exams can be held between 15th to 30th September, the report further continued.
Nevertheless, Uday Samant has already been declared that the final year examinations can begin from the first week of October.
Image Credits- The Indian Express
