GUWAHATI: National capital Delhi has decided to cancel final year university exams despite the guidelines of University Grants Commission (UGC) clearly stating that all states must conduct end semester examinations for passing out students.
As per the UGC Act, state governments cannot take such a decision. Unlike school education, which is on the state list, higher education is on the concurrent list (both centre and state).
University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) directives have to be implemented and UGC has the power to take action against the same, according to the Higher Education Secretary, Amit Khare.
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HRD secretary also said that if such a decision was taken and if degrees were given out without conducting exams once, then students will cite floods and other reasons and ask for exams to be cancelled in the future. “Populist action versus long term goals of the education system needs to be considered together,” said Amit Khare, HRD Secretary.
The issue had taken a political turn with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi calling for exams to be cancelled and several non-BJP states having already announced the cancellation of final year university exams.
Some states such as Punjab, Maharashtra, Odisha and West Bengal have also written to the Centre citing reasons for why they would want to cancel the examination.
Today, Delhi joined these states expressing concerns over the possibility of spreading COVID-19 further due to the same.
A few students’ unions such as NSUI have alleged that UGC had not held any consultations before taking such a decision.
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