Kolkata: Students of state-run colleges and universities in West Bengal might not have to sit for their final semester exams this year as vice-chancellors said the process of evaluation is almost over and there is no scope to incorporate the UGC guidelines and the Centre's advisory to conduct the tests by September-end.
The vice-chancellors of the state-run universities will write to the UGC, stating the reasons for not following the July 6 guidelines that mandated final semester examinations by September 30.
Meanwhile, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Saturday has written to PM Modi to revise the advisory issued by Ministry of Human Resource Development and UGC with regard to conducting the terminal examinations in colleges and universities.
The decision on the matter was taken at a meeting of the West Bengal Vice-Chancellors Council on Friday evening, in which the latest guidelines of the UGC were discussed.
"Resolved that all the Vice-Chancellors of the state-aided universities of West Bengal will communicate individually to the Chairman of UGC stating the reasons for not following the revised UGC guidelines dated 06.07.2020 in this respect immediately," a statement issued by the council said.
The state-run universities will, however, follow the guidelines issued by the UGC on April 29 and the subsequent state Higher Education Department advisory, which gave approval to a process of evaluation for publication of results in both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
"The evaluation is almost in the process of completion," the statement said.
The state Higher Education Department has recommended parameters for the evaluation of scores based on the last semester aggregate, home assignments, and internal assessment for final semester students.
The state-run universities are broadly following this formula for publication of results by July 31.
"We are in no situation to follow the MHRD advisory. We are already in the process of publishing the results by this month. We cannot start campus activities in the present situation," the vice-chancellor of a university in Kolkata told PTI.
The decision by the vice-chancellors followed a letter to the Human Resource Development Ministry by Principal Secretary of Department of Higher Education and School Education Manish Jain, urging it to re-examine the matter in the interest of the well-being of students amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jain said the state should be allowed to implement its own decision by not making the guidelines mandatory.
