Odisha Higher Education Minister urges HRD Minister to not make UG, PG exams compulsory

Dr. Arun Kumar Sahoo, Higher Education Minister in Odisha has written a letter to the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Dr. Ramesh Nishank Pokhriyal urging him to not make UG and PG term examinations mandatory. Dr. Sahoo in his letter pointed out that he is writing on the matter again on behalf of the State Government of Odisha and public universities as they did not receive any response from the HRD ministry on their earlier letter dated July 9. The ministry in its letter had requested to not make UG & PG final year examination compulsory due to the worsening situation of coronavirus pandemic in the country. 

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"Due to non-receipt of any response/clarification from MHRD, the State Government and the State Public Universities are in dilemma regarding the conduct of final UG & PG term examinations. Students and parents have become very anxious and restless due to such uncertainty and are contacting us in large numbers over the telephone as to whether they should start preparing for the examinations or not. The COVID-19 situation in the country has worsened in the last 15 days since I wrote to you on 09.07.2020. The situation is most likely to aggravate further in the coming months. For the reasons detailed below, It is neither possible nor advisable to conduct UG & PG final year/semester examination in the state," Dr. Sahoo said in his letter dated July 23, 2020. 

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Difficulties faced by students

The state minister cited reasons such as lack of desktop, laptop, and decent smartphone at home as one of the main reasons to not make the conduct of final year examination mandatory as most of the students belong to the low and middle-income groups. The letter said that of the 2 lakh students, most are from rural areas and do not have reliable internet connectivity at their place. The minister in his letter added that conducting the physical examination will expose the students, college staff, and their family members to risk contracting coronavirus. The minister also cited public transport non-availability as one of the reasons to not conduct the examinations. 

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