The Maharashtra government on Friday, 8 May, announced that all university students in the state, apart from those in the final year, will be promoted without having to take exams due to COVID-19 lockdown, reported ANI.
“All university students in Maharashtra, except those in the final year, will be promoted to the next class without examination due to COVID-19 lockdown. The final year examinations will be held in July,”Uday Samant, Maharashtra State Higher and Technical Education Minister
Universities like Mumbai University will now promote first year and second year students. The universities are expected to release the date sheet for final year students later.
Samant said the decision was taken after discussions with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat and Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray.
According to a NDTV report, the decision for the final year examination will be reviewed again if the COVID-19 case rates do not flatten and the lockdown period is extended further.
The state government has also decided to adopt UGC recommendation and promote students based on a 50-50% gradation formula: 50% will be based a student’s performance in internals and other projects in the current semester and 50% will be based on the student’s performance in the previous semester.
According to a Hindustan Times report, the state is also considering the UGC minimum compulsory attendance rule for students, Quoting Uday Samant, the report added that the universities should consider 45 days of lockdown as time spent in college by all students and added to the current attendance record of students.
(With inputs from NDTV and Hindustan Times)
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