Odisha cancels final year UG, PG exams
Image used for representational purpose
BHUBANESWAR: The higher education department on Thursday cancelled both the theory and the practical end-semester exams of final-year undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students (except medical students).
This was decided in a meeting chaired by higher education minister Arun Kumar Sahoo here on Thursday and attended by vice-chancellors of state universities and principals of autonomous colleges.
The cancellation will be implemented by all universities and autonomous colleges coming under the jurisdiction of the department. However, it will not be applicable to institutions that have already completed both the theory and the practical exams of the final year students.
Government sources said universities and autonomous colleges would follow UGC guidelines to conduct ‘alternate evaluation’ of UG and PG final year students and publish results by end of August. The evaluation will combine internal marks and the average of the marks obtained by a student in the previous semesters/years.
If students feel that they could have scored higher in an offline exam, they can appear for one in November. The revised results will be published in December. “The alternative evaluation will be applied to every final year student. If they are not satisfied with the result, they can appear for offline exam. The result of the offline exam will be taken as final,” said an official of the higher education department.
Students welcomed the decision. “This is a good step. It is not safe to go to the university or college now. Many of our friends are stuck outside the state. Some of them live in containment zones,” said Swikruti Mishra, PG student of Rama Devi Women’s University.
Srinibas Samal, a UG final-year student of Utkal University, also supported the decision. “The second-chance exam is good too. Let’s see how they grade us,” he added.
Earlier, the government had decided that sixth semester or final year exam for UG students would be held between June 20 and July 24 and results declared by August 31. Similarly, final-year PG exams were to be completed by August 20 and results announced by September 20.