No offline exams in May, conduct online exams after assessing preparedness: UGC to varsities

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked the Vice-Chancellors of all universities and principals of all colleges to not conduct any offline examination in May, owing to the pandemic. The regulator, however, added that online examinations can be conducted after assessing local conditions and preparedness.

"In view of the current scenario of COVID-19, it is requested that Higher Education Institutions may keep the offline examinations in abeyance in May, to avoid physical gathering at the campuses and also to provide much-needed relief to students, faculty and staff who are presently occupied in fighting COVID-19 in one way or the other," reads a letter by the UGC secretary Rajnish Jain. The regulator says that it will relook at the situation in the next month and take an appropriate call.

A number of boards, institutes and universities had previously either postponed or cancelled a lot of major examinations that were scheduled to be held in April and May. This includes the CBSE's Class X board examination that was cancelled and the Class XII board examination that was postponed. However, the students are demanding a cancellation of the Class XII examinations as well, as the COVID curve in the country shows no signs of bending. India has been consistently reporting over 4 lakh COVID cases over the past few days.