As the Maharashtra is the worst hit state due to coronavirus, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday clarified that universities in Maharashtra will not be holding any exams for those who are currently in the final year and will promote them based on their past performance.
In his address to the state late on Sunday evening, Thackeray announced that with lockdown extended till June 30, the state will have no choice but to promote final-year students based on their performance of the previous semester and academic year.
Details of this decision, however, are yet to be clarified by the state education department as well as universities.
“Final-year results will be announced on the basis of aggregate marks scored by the student in the past semesters. Those students who feel they can perform better can do so by appearing for the exams that will be held in winter exam session [October-November 2020],” said Thackeray, in his speech on Sunday.
This decision comes barely a day after Thackeray held a meeting with the state governor and chancellor of all state universities Bhagat Singh Koshyari, education minister and vice-chancellors of all state universities with the hope to find a solution to the problem of pending final-year examination.
State minister for higher and technical education Uday Samant, in a separate online post, clarified that the state’s decision is clear and the same will be explained in detail to universities as well as students soon.
In the first week of May, Samant held a Facebook live in order to announce the states decision to promote all first and second-year university students based on their current and previous semester performance whereas while final-year students will appear for exams in the month of July. He, however, had also clarified that in case the lockdown is extended till the end of June, the state government would have to rethink their plan to conduct exams for over eight lakh final-year students in Maharashtra.
After Thackeray’s announcement, state cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray took to Twitter to laud the CM’s decision. “This decision brings huge relief to all students. I also thank the state education minister and VCs of all state universities for their participation in the decision to keep the balance between safeguarding life and academic excellence,” read his tweet.
