Data of universities conducting exams released; Covid a concern: PU official, no decision taken yetUGC list out, Panjab varsity in a fix over final-yr exams

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 19

As the future of the Panjab University’s (PU) final-year students hangs fire, a press communiqué by the University Grants Commission (UGC) hints that the statutory body may not roll back its decision of conducting exams.

The communiqué stated: “Recently, the universities were informed about the status of conducting exams. 560 universities have either conducted the examination or are planning to do it. As many as 194 have already conducted examination (online/off-line), 366 are planning to do so in August/September.”

Recently, the PU Syndics have written to the UGC to review its decision. However, no official reply has been received till date. Also, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered interim stay on the final examinations this month.

“The authorities are creating a ground plan. After the UGC’s confirmations, the PU is now in a dicey situation. There’s spike in the number of Covid-19 cases and at the same time, we cannot ignore the UGC. That is why, a request has been made to the central body for reviewing its decision. Going by the recent statement, the UGC looks like in no mood of dropping the decision,” said a PU official.

Another reason of worry for the PU is the mode of conducting exams. The PU may find it difficult to conduct examinations through online mode — giving the infrastructure and circumstances. And the only option left is conducting exams in offline mode.

“The major problem lies here. We have students from all over the nation. If the authorities call them, then it’s a high risk considering the fact that we don’t have access to many of our own hostels. The university has to arrange online mode of examinations,” said a source.

“So far, we have not decided anything about conducting final-year exams. The Syndicate has written to the UGC. Any decision will be taken after considering various factors such as students’ interest,” Prof RK Singla, DUI, PU.