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Universities in India may begin their new academic session in August and could replace intermediate semester examinations with internal modes of assessment, the University Grants Commission (UGC) said in an advisory on Wednesday, 29 April.
According to a circular issued by the nodal body, universities may begin the 2020-21 academic session from 1 August 2020 for old students and from 1 September, 2020 for the fresh batch that will come in this year. This means that while students being promoted to the second and third year can begin their classes as early as August, those seeking fresh admissions can begin their first year classes in September.
The suggestion of a delayed academic session will come as a relief to several students who are yet to clear their class 12 board exams – among them are lakhs of CBSE class 12 students who have quite a few subjects pending. Many others from state boards have had their exams completed, but are waiting for evaluation of scripts to resume or start, in the first place.
According to the circular, terminal semester examinations (popularly referred to as final year examinations) will be held in the month of July. Intermediate semester exams, which simply means exams between two semesters, will be held in July for states in which the COVID-19 situation has normalised. However, it is not clear as to how the UGC plans to define the situation in any state as ‘normalised.’
However, only in the case of of intermediate semester exams, the UGC says “if the situation does not appear to be normal in view of COVID-19”, exams can be cancelled and students can be assessed on the basis of internal assessment.
Internal assessment can include continuous evaluation, prelims, mid-semester, internal evaluation or whatever name is given for student “progression.”
However, in doing so, the UGC advises varsities to strictly observe social distancing guidelines and to also ensure that adequate support system that allows for fair exams.
This could mean that universities, if they decide to conduct online or offline exams, must me mindful of whether students are able to access transport to reach exam centres or in case of online exams, students are able to access the internet. It also said that an extension of six months should be granted to MPhil and PhD students.
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