Promoted COVID-19: Why students in Maharashtra don't want it written on their marksheet

State-run universities in Maharashtra have awarded their first and second-year students with promotion certificates which say 'Promoted (COVID-19)' on top. The students immediately took to Twitter and other social media platforms to protest. The hashtag #SayNoToCovidDegree is trending on Twitter after Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and its members tweeted about the issue.

The students will be in a disadvantageous position later in their career with a degree which says that they have not graduated from a particular class but just been promoted due to the pandemic, said Aniket Ovhal, National Secretary of ABVP, who hails from Maharashtra. "If the agricultural universities could conduct exams for their terminal year students then why can't the same be repeated for the second and first-year students? They have worked hard and just promoting them without any sort of evaluation is just undermining that hard work," said Aniket.

Varada Marathe, the National Social Media Convener of the ABVP said that the Shiv Sena-led government is playing with students' careers. "#PenguinSarkar in Maharashtra is hell-bent upon playing with students’ futures. This is the mark sheet given to fourth-semester students in Akola," she tweeted. The official handle of the ABVP Maharashtra also tweeted that, "COVID Degree should not be the alternative for exams. The government should make necessary arrangements for exams and avoid the loss of students."

The VCs should take appropriate steps to make sure that there is some kind of evaluation of the students before they move on to the next class instead of just promoting them, said Aniket. "The Vice-Chancellors have been appointed to make decisions in crucial times like these. They can go for an online setup or an online set up later in the year or a dual-mode system. Universities across the country have adopted such measures and the UGC has asked the institutions to conduct final-year exams by the end of September. Why cant the government listen to its students?" asked Aniket.