Maharashtra: CM Thackeray affirms cancellation of final year examinations, writes to PM

In a major relief to final year students, the Maharashtra government has decided to scrap semester-end exams for students amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The degrees will be awarded on the formula decided by the respective universities. However, the students have been given the option to take exams whenever it is feasible to hold. In a letter to the Prime Minister on Friday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray affirmed the decision to cancel final year/final semester examinations of the non-professional as well as professional degrees.

"The present atmosphere is not yet conducive for conducive for conduct of any examinations and classes. Further, conducting examinations amidst existing pandemic may prove to be an enormous task for the district/municipal administration, examining authorities, transport authorities, besides students and parents," Thackeray highlighted in his letter to PM Modi. 

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"It was also decided to get a decision in respect of professional courses to be endorsed by the respective apex authorities as these courses are regulated by national-level apex bodies like the All India Council for Technical Education, Council of Architecture, Pharmacy Council of India, Bar Council of India, National Council of Teachers Education and National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology," he added. Furthermore, CM Thackeray requested the Prime Minister to endorse the decision of the state government regarding cancellation of final year/ final semester examinations of the Professional courses and to issue necessary guidelines to the Universities. 

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CM urges PM's intervention to postpone final year MD/MS exam

On Wednesday, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to direct the Medical Council of India to postpone the medical final year postgraduate exams till December 2020. Mentioning that the final year MD/MS exam is conducted in the month of May or June by the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik, he stated that it had been postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thackeray added that the Board of Directors of the MCI had issued an advisory to all universities to complete these exams by June 30, 2020. 

READ | Maharashtra CM Urges PM's Intervention To Postpone Final Year MD/MS Exam Till December

Maharashtra COVID crisis

Maharashtra's coronavirus outbreak continued to worsen as the state reported its highest single-day count of a whopping 4,841 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, taking the aggregate to 1,47,741.  The death toll rose to 6,931 after 192 succumbed to the illness, of which 109 died in the last 48 hours, and the rest 83 are deaths from the previous period, the state health department said. The number of recoveries jumped by 3,661 in the last 24 hours to reach 77,453. As of June 25, there are 63,342 active cases in the state.

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