Himachal Government against promoting students without exams

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 6

Unlike other states such as Haryana, Rajasthan and Jharkhand, which have cancelled the examinations of undergraduate and postgraduate courses and are contemplating to promote students, the Himachal Government is not in favour of this and weighing other options.

Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) had prepared a tentative schedule for conducting the examinations of undergraduate courses from July 15, but the lockdown extension till July 31 has halted the process.

“We had planned to conduct the examinations of undergraduate courses from July 15. All necessary arrangements have been made, but the lockdown has now been extended till July 31. Most quarantine centres are being run from colleges,” said Education Minister Suresh Bhardwaj.

The minister said he had requested the government to shift the quarantine centres from colleges.

“We are not in favour of promoting the final year students without conducting the examinations. We have sufficient space in colleges to conduct the examinations by adhering to social distancing norms and taking other precautions. If need arises, the examination centres can be set up in schools also,” he said.

The HPU had proposed 43 examination centres for conducting the final year examinations of undergraduate courses. The evaluation of answer sheets would be done in-house. Holding the final year examinations was the top priority and question papers had also been prepared, said Vice-Chancellor, HPU, Prof Sikander Kumar.

The university is also in favour of holding an entrance test for admissions to postgraduate courses. However, if things did not go down well, the university may opt for making admissions on the basis of merit, for which objective evaluation is imperative. However, student organisations are divided on holding the examinations.

Earlier, the state government had planned to conduct the examinations of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in July and start admissions for the next academic session from August. However, with the declaration of Class XII results by the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education and the CBSE, decks have been cleared for admissions to degree courses.