The students studying in public universities may well pack their books for now and get on with the binge watching spree. Reason, some reports suggest that the final exams of public universities across the state will be held only after mid-May.
There was a virtual meeting organised by governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who is also the chancellor of universities on April 8. In this meeting most vice-chancellors were of the opinion that given the current scheme of things in the state, it would be almost impossible to think of conducting exams before mid-May.
The number of cases in Maharashtra have been growing at an exponential pace. Despite the lockdown, there are currently 1,135 cases in the state. There are also feelers being sent that this lockdown may last for another couple of weeks. The Prime Minister along with the state will be taking a decision on the same on April 11.
No matter what be the case the state universities want to be prepared for the same. There are two plans that were discussed in today’s meeting. There is a plan A which assumes that the lockdown will be lifted in April, and in such a situation vice-chancellors have been instructed to to figure out ways to hold exams from mid-May. However, if the lockdown goes on, for the same there is a plan B also presented. In such a scenario the chancellors have been told to figure out ways of holding exams in smaller groups later. Apart from this too, the common feeler was to examine other options.
The State higher education minister Uday Samant informed the governor that a six member panel — comprising vice-chancellors of Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur and SNDT universities and directors of higher and technical education will be exploring all options in this regards.
The biggest concern that remains for vice-chancellors in that even if the lockdown is lifted (whenever that may be), it may not be a sound advice to gather all students at one place together and have a crowd
The committee has been formed which will now be chalking out all plans and they have been instructed to submit a report that has multiple plans within two days. All public universities in the state will follow a uniform exam schedule and for the new academic calendar, said a statement from Raj Bhavan.
Just like the schools, the governor has asked universities to make the best use of technology to continue teaching. The aim is to make sure that the learning process does not get hampered due to the outbreak.
Further, all universities have an emergency fund in place. The governor advised the universities to use this fund at this time of crisis in order to support innovative initiatives like Covid-19 testing labs, making masks, manufacturing sanitisers, kits, low-cost ventilators etc In this meeting it was also revealed that Mumbai University, too, is working on building a facility for Covid-19 testing.
Share
Tweet
