The University Grants Commission (UGC) is set to revise its guidelines given the inability of the students to appear for the examinations because of the health crisis. The government has formed a committee chaired by Professor RC Kuhad, Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Haryana to release a guideline to address the woes of the final year students and clarify the procedure of the admission for the academic year 2020-21. The alternative ways of evaluating the students have been suggested in compliance with the Ministry of HRD’s notification of a composite grade of 50-50 weightage of the Internal Assessments and previous semester grades.
The RC Kuhad committee is expected to fill in its recommendations by holding a dialogue with various universities and other stakeholders. While several states like Maharashtra, Haryana, Odisha, etc have decided to promote the college students sans examinations, other states are requesting their governments to adopt these measures because of the pandemic.
The UGC had already recommended in its April 29, 2020 guideline to let the students be evaluated based on their Internal Assessments and previous grades. But this guideline was advisory and not mandatory. The students, who wish to improve their grades, also have an option of appearing for the pen-paper examinations when the situation eases. The new evaluated grade would then be reflected in their mark sheets.
While the UGC had also deferred the academic session for the intermediate year students be commenced from August 2020 and for the freshers, from September, the troubling state of the fatality rate in the country has called for a further adjournment of the academic year. The new guidelines will also encompass the details for the academic year 2020-21.
