UGC Asks Expert Committee to Review Guidelines on Exams and Academic Calendar Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

New Delhi, June 24: University Grants Commission (UGC) on Wednesday asked the expert committee for examinations and academic calendar to conduct a review and submit a report after revising its guidelines. The UGC’s directions came hours after the Human and Resource Development Ministry advised the statuary body to revise its guidelines for examinations and academic calendar.

The Ministry asked the UGC to revise the guidelines keeping in mind the health and safety of students, teachers and staff amid the growing COVID-19 cases in the country. HRD Minister, Ramish Pokhriyal “Nishank” tweeted, “I have advised the @ugc_india to revisit the guidelines issued earlier for intermediate and Terminal Semester examinations and academic calendar. The foundation for revisited guidelines shall be health and safety students, teachers and staff.”

Tweet by ANI:

Last month, the UGC had issued guidelines regarding the examinations and academic calendar. In its earlier notification, it had recommended that final year examinations should be conducted in July. It also said that the admission process should be started from August 1-31.

Several state governments are also sceptical about conducting pending university of board exams amid the looming threat of coronavirus pandemic. Earlier in the day, the Maharashtra government told the Bombay High Court that the Indian School Certificate Examination (ICSE) board could not be permitted to conduct its pending standard X and XII exams in July due to the increasing COVID-19 cases in the state.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 24, 2020 09:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).