Delhi govt decides to cancel upcoming semester, final exams of univs under it due to COVID-19

Sisodia said these state universities have been asked to promote their students and award them degrees adopting a "progressive method of evaluation". He said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to replicate Delhi government's decision for all central universities across the country to end uncertainty among students regarding the exams.

Delhi government has decided to cancel all forthcoming semester and final exams of universities under it due to the COVID-19 situation, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Saturday. Sisodia said these state universities have been asked to promote their students and award them degrees adopting a "progressive method of evaluation".

He said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to replicate Delhi government's decision for all central universities across the country to end uncertainty among students regarding the exams. Sisodia said Delhi government's decision does not concern Delhi University (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and other central universities in the national capital.

The universities under Delhi government include National Law University, Delhi Technological University, Ambedkar University, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Netaji Subhas University of Technology and Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTUW). The deputy chief minister, who is also Delhi's Education minister, said studies in the universities were disrupted due to the pandemic, and it was not possible to conduct examinations.

Unprecedented times require unprecedented decisions, Sisodia said. "The issue was complex since no studies or any other academic activities took place in the semester. It was not possible to hold exams without any studies. So we have asked universities to cancel exams and promote students to next semester on the basis of past results or some other progressive method of evaluation," he said.

Sisodia said even though it was not possible to conduct final year examinations, providing degrees to students for jobs and future academic pursuits was necessary. "We have asked the universities to cancel final year exams and come out with some formula of evaluation for awarding degrees," he said.

Some state universities like Ambedkar University and IGDTUW have already completed their assessment process of students and even announced the results. The Delhi Technological University had already conducted exams for students of final year in an online mode and even given them marksheets and provisional degrees so that they can pursue employment opportunities. The exams for nearly 9,000 students of intermediate semesters in DTU were scheduled from July 20 but now the varsity will wait for the government's directive on how to assess students. The Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, which has over one lakh students and comprises 127 colleges apart from the varsity campus, has not conducted its exams yet.

Sisodia also hoped that the prime minister will take cognizance of the chief minister's request to cancel exams of all central universities across the country and soon issue some direction..