Varun Sardesai initiates demand for the cancellation of exams

Varun Sardesai, Secretary of the Yuva Sena has initiated the demand for the cancellation of exams. Sardesai has started an online petition on Tuesday to Ramesh Pokhriyal, Minister of the Human Resource Department. This comes after the HRD Minister ordered all the universities of the country to conduct the semester examinations by the end of September.

Yuva Sena requests HRD Minister @DrRPNishank Ji to reconsider @ugc_india ‘s decision of compulsorily conducting final year exams.
We have also raised concerns on behalf of students and education fraternity.
Hope these are addressed as well. @AUThackeray pic.twitter.com/xrgIk3UmU0

— Varun Sardesai (@SardesaiVarun) July 7, 2020

The University Grants Commission (UGC) had earlier authorized revised guidelines regarding the conduct of terminal semesters and final year exams by universities and educational institutions. It has been suggested that the process of examinations are to be completed by September in online or offline modes.

In this online petition, Shiv Sena leader Varun Sardesai has mentioned some of the concerns of the students to Pokhriyal. He also appealed to the HRD to reconsider the decision to conduct the tests. Speaking about the current situation with the pandemic spread across the country, Sardesai opined that the decision would not be a wise one. He also stated his concerns regarding the online infrastructure and its availability to the poor rural parts of our country where an online examination may not be a feasible option.

Some of the key points of concerns lie in the fact that lakhs of final year students have secured jobs through campus placements or have enrolled in private Indian universities or foreign universities. The examination in September will mean that they will effectively lose all these opportunities. Moreover, prestigious universities like IIT Mumbai and Indian universities have decided to cancel the exams, therefore, it can be implemented to other universities as well.

Meanwhile, India's total COVID-19 cases have risen to 7,19,665 cases of which 2,59,557 are active while 4,39,948 people have recovered. 20,160 people have died so far. The lockdown had earlier been extended till July 31. With the surge in the cases of coronavirus, several students have expressed worries over the decision by the government.