Colleges and universities to give students 15 minutes extra during offline exams
Nagpur: In view of the Covid infection under control now, Maharashtra Government has decided to conduct all university and college-level exams of the summer session offline. This decision was taken in an online meeting held by Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant with all the Vice-Chancellors on Monday morning.
According to sources, the meeting was held to review exam planning by different universities. The Minister in the meeting insisted on offline exams, especially now that the pandemic has come to an end and normalcy is resuming in educational institutions.
According to reports, the Vice-Chancellors of different universities across the state conveyed preparedness for the same and unanimously agreed to go back to the conventional offline pattern of exams, in the same meeting.
It is important to note that there has been much debate over the pattern of exams for the past few days, especially among students. Even as most universities have decided to take summer exams in offline mode, students are demanding exams to be held online. In fact, several protests were held in the past month for online exams.
According to reports, the Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Sawant has asked colleges and universities to give students 15 minutes extra during offline exams. The move was announced a few days after Mumbai University directed its autonomous colleges to provide extra time to students appearing for offline exams.
Samant suggested Vice-Chancellors of various Maharashtra universities provide 15 minutes extra to students in a meeting held recently. The decision was taken with due consideration for students who haven’t appeared in offline exams since schools and colleges closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic two years ago.
“Considering that after a break of two years, students will be appearing for exams in offline mode, universities should give 15 extra minutes for every hour of the exam period to students,” added the Maharashtra Higher Education Minister.
The decision to provide 15 minutes extra in college and university exams was also taken because many students studying in colleges and universities of Maharashtra had approached Uday Samant for the same.
