Gandhinagar, Jul 2 (IANS): Following directives from the Union government, the Gujarat government on Wednesday reversed its earlier decision to hold final year examinations of all universities and colleges in Gujarat.
The state government has now kept on hold or postponed examinations of universities and colleges.
Addressing the media, Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said: "The Union Education Secretary has issued guidelines for all the states to put on hold all the examinations of universities, looking at the prevailing situation of Covid-19."
He said that the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development has taken this decision so that there is a uniformity in the examinations conducted across the states.
"Following these guidelines and after having consultation with Chief Minister, Vijay Rupani, we have decided to postpone all the scheduled examinations in the state, including the GTU examinations which were about to begin from Thursday, July 2," Chudasama added.
The state government earlier on Wednesday announced the decision to allow colleges and universities to conduct final year examinations, while the Gujarat Technological University (GTU) had already declared dates for examinations, which were to start from Thursday. However, the Congress has opposed the cabinet decision and demanded mass promotion of all students
Chudasama had said: "The GTU had conducted an opinion poll on its 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."
The GTU had even assured the government that it would conduct examinations while maintaining social distancing, make use of masks and sanitisers mandatory, and by making other arrangements across its 350 centres, he had said.
The GTU had given the students three options -- classroom examinations, online examinations, and special examinations to be held on improvement in coronavirus situation.
Students living in containment zones or those who were not willing to take classroom examinations were given the option to either go for online examinations or take special examinations, the dates for which were to be announced later.