The Supreme Court of India on Friday announced that the final year examinations for college/university students have to be carried till the 30th September. However, they allowed the states for deferment of exams beyond September 30 if they want to because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Supreme Court said today. “State cannot promote students without final year examinations,” the top court asserted.
That means that all the students will have to appear for the final exams because states can only postpone them but cannot cancel them as per the court.
The Judges said that if the states feel that they cant conduct exams by September 30, they can approach UGC for relief.
This decision came during the protest from various students. Several petitions, including one by Aditya Thackeray the Minister of the Yuva Sena of Maharashtra had asked for the exams to be cancelled because of the pandemic. It referred to the difficulties faced by the students at the time when all the educational institutions were closed because of the coronavirus. The said that the students have already completed 5 semesters and have their CGPA or Cumulative Grade Point Average which could be used for the assessment of results without the final examinations.
However, the Supreme Court said that the “Internal assessments will not suffice.” But Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi and Odisha wanted to cancel the examinations.
The National Education Body, University Grants Commission (UGC) said that the exams are a must to “Protect the academic future of students and the degrees cannot be given without examination.” The UGC during the hearings told that the states cannot make a decision to confer degrees without exams and that the states are free to extend the deadline.
Appearing for the UGC, Solicitor General Tushar Mehra said that this decision was made for the benefit of the students as the universities have to start admission for the postgraduate courses.
The UGC had questioned the decisions of Delhi and Maharashtra government to cancel final year exams, in August. The central college body said, ” Such decisions directly affect the standards of higher education and will be an encroachment on the legislative field of coordinating and determining the standards of higher education that is exclusively reserved for parliament under the constitution.”
Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah delivered the ruling through video-conferencing.
However, the SC Justices don’t think that they should meet in a courtroom to give a decision but they think it’s appropriate for millions of students to go to their centres and appear for examinations. They think it’s the right time for students to go to colleges but how will they travel if the local trains are shut? With the number of COVID-19 cases increasing each day, will this be a smart move? Are examinations more important than the lives of the students? It’s only better to just wait and see how things work out.
