Maharashtra: Students can give final year exam online, result to be declared by October 31

In a big development on Thursday, the Maharashtra government announced that students can appear for their final year university exams online. Mentioning that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had given his approval for the proposal, Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant stated that practical exams could be conducted in September itself. He added that the state government will request the UGC to extend the deadline for conducting exams to October end. Samant stressed that the aim was to ensure that the results are declared before October 31.

Earlier in the day, Samant met the Maharashtra Governor at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict upholding the UGC's decision to conduct the final year exams. He also held a meeting with vice-chancellors of 13 public universities in the state on how to conduct the exams. Most importantly, Samant asserted that the examinations shall not be very tough. 

Maharashtra Minister Uday Samant remarked, "Governor BS Koshyari has given permission to the final year students to appear for exams online. They can give exams from their home." He added, "We are also going to request the UGC to extend the existing deadline of conducting examinations from September end to October end. We will bring down the toughness of the exams as well."

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SC verdict on UGC directive

As per the UGC guidelines dated July 6, academic credibility, career opportunities, and future progress of students were linked to conducting the final year exams. The state governments were provided the option of holding exams in offline mode, online mode, or blended format. On August 28, an SC bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy, and MR Shah refused to quash the UGC guidelines to hold final year exams as sought by numerous petitioners including Yuva Sena.

It ruled that the states and universities cannot promote final year students without holding exams. At the same time, the apex court clarified that the decision of the concerned state governments to not hold exams by September 30 shall supersede the UGC guidelines. This implies that the state governments which have ruled out conducting exams can request the UGC to extend the September 30 deadline. This request shall be considered by the UGC and the rescheduled date will be communicated to the respective state governments at the earliest. 

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(With PTI inputs)