Maharashtra digs its heels in reiterates no final year exams, says MVA Govt

State’s disaster management authority overrides laws of UGC or universities during emergencies, says Uday Samant 

Mumbai: The State Disaster Management Authority of Maharashtra (SDMA) on July 13 reiterated its decision that given the existing pandemic conditions in the state it is not feasible to conduct final year university examinations. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has directed states and universities across the country to conduct exams, which has been rejected by Maharashtra along with many other states like Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya, West Bengal and Rajasthan.

In a press briefing, minister for Higher and Technical education, Uday Samant stated that as per the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the decisions of the DM authority were binding on other departments and overruled the provisions of the UGC Act, 1956 and the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016, during emergencies.

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With over 12,149 containment zones in states and over a crore people affected by it and over eight employees of Mumbai University (MU) already infected with Corona even without students, Samant raised concerns about conducting exams in such conditions. He questioned if UGC would take responsibility for safety of health concerns of students.

The meeting of the DM authority assumes importance in the wake of state governor and chancellor of state universities, Bhagat Singh Koshyari summoning state chief secretary Sanjay Kumar and Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni to take legal view on the issue.  Questioning legal action threatened by the UGC for refusal to conduct exams, Samant wondered whether this meant threat of jail terms for students, parents or the minister concerned for opposing exams at this juncture.

Academicians say that the state government has the upper hand over the decision to take exams. “UGC guidelines are just guidelines and are valued only if states accept them. Since higher education is a concurrent subject, acceptance of state is very important. Students too are under lot of stress due to Coronavirus; cyclone Nisarg too has destroyed many colleges.

Exams could be provided as an option only for the 15-20 % of students, who wish to take admission further education or for the 2-3% pursuing courses abroad for whom the scores matter. The rest of the students could be promoted using the existing academic record of past-Semesters already available with the University,” said Dr M.R. Kurup, who had been part of the UGC’ national assessment and accreditation council and ex-principal of V.G. Vaze College, Mulund. 

Students like Anshritha Rai have already written to the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court seeking his intervention on the issue.  Rai, a student from ILS Law College, Pune, said in her letter: “Conducting pan-India examinations in the midst of the novel pandemic would be equivalent to turning a blind eye to the interests and genuine concerns of the student fraternity.”

With Maharashtra being the worst affected state due to Coronavirus, Rai argued that the unabated focus on mandating university exams and sticking to traditional patterns was indicative of the flaws in our higher education system. “Our strict examination-oriented culture has frequently come under fire for failing to develop practical skills and critical reasoning. Credibility and intellectual prowess has little to no connection with examination grades,” she said in her letter.