Gandhinagar, Jul 1 (IANS): The Gujarat government, here on Wednesday, announced the decision to allow colleges and universities to conduct final year examinations. The Gujarat Technological University (GTU) has already declared dates for examinations, which will start from Thursday.
However, the Congress has opposed the cabinet decision.
Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said, "The SP University and the Teacher's University conducted examinations last week. The GTU has announced examination dates. Gradually, other universities and colleges in the state will also conduct final year examinations."
He said the GTU had conducted an opinion poll on it's website on holding of examinations. Around 54,000 students replied in affirmative as they wanted to move on, get the certificates for jobs or pursue higher education. Only 900 students opposed holding of examinations, he added.
The GTU would conduct examinations while maintaining social distancing, use of masks and sanitizers, and by making other arrangements across its 350 centres, Chudasama said.
The GTU has given the students three options -- the classroom examinations that will begin on Thursday, online examinations, and special examinations to be held on improvement in coronavirus situation.
The students living in containment zones or those who are not willing to take classroom examinations can either go for online examinations or special examinations, the dates for which will be announced later. The online examinations will be held from July 21, as declared by the GTU earlier.
However, the Congress has opposed the decision to conduct examinations and have demanded that the students be mass promoted.
"The corona crisis in Gujarat is out of control. More than 32,000 people have been infected and over 1,800 lost their lives. At such a time, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and various other committees, set up in different universities and colleges, recommended cancellation of all examinations and a merit-based progression. Despite this, the GTU has gone ahead. This is playing with the lives of students," said Amit Chavda, Gujarat Congress president.
In the current situation no examinations be conducted and all students should be mass promoted, Paresh Dhanani, Leader of the Opposition, told IANS.