Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Maharashtra has emerged as one of the states worst affected by the virus, continuing to record several thousand cases on a daily basis. While the Maharashtra government had initially postponed exams, a recent Supreme Court of India verdict has mandated that the University Grants Commission's guideline for conducting the final year university examination before September 30 is correct, and states and universities cannot promote students without holding exams.
Following this, the Maharashtra government had formed a six-member committee to explore ways to conduct the tests by noon on September 30.
More recently, Governor BS Koshyari had given permission for students to appear for the exams online from their homes. Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant had said that Maharashtra would request the University Grants Commission to extend the deadline from September to October.
Incidentally, the SC verdict does not make this an impossibility. The schedule of the exams are dependent on the state governments and can be postponed under the Disaster Management Act as long as fresh dates are fixed in consultation with the UGC.
On Thursday, Samant took to Twitter stating that the Governor had held a meeting with all vice-chancellors regarding to conducting of final year exams. "It was decided to ask for an extension to complete the examination process by October 31," he wrote.
Maharashtra Minister of Tourism and Environment also added in a tweet that the discussion had also revolved around how and when the exams could be held in a simple manner keeping the safety of students in mind.
