Coronavirus lockdown: UGC To Suggest Academic Calendar This Week

The UGC will issue necessary instructions to universities and colleges next week. Normally, this session starts in the month of July every year

(Representative Image/ Getty)

New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) had held a meeting on Monday, April 27th, to discuss the recommendations given by two panels on the future course of action for universities and colleges amidst the COVID-19 lockdown. The report submitted by a seven-member committee which has, among other things, recommended the start of the new academic session in universities and colleges from September. The UGC will issue necessary instructions to universities and colleges next week. Normally, this session starts in the month of July every year. The first committee had to look into the issues related to examinations and academic calendar. The second committee was entrusted with the task of finding solutions to issues related to the promotion of online education. Haryana University Vice-Chancellor RC Kuhad led the first committee which had to cram out the ways of conducting exams in universities amid the lockdown and work on an alternate academic calendar. The second committee which had to suggest measures to improve online education was led by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) V-C Nageshwar Rao. The panel has one of its recommendations suggested that the academic sessions be started two months late. Also Check: JEE, NEET Coaching Institutes Offer Online Classes Amid Covid-19 Lockdown, New Courses Launched Schools, colleges, and universities across India have been shut since March 15. The expert panel pointed out that the examinations could not be held as per the earlier schedule due to the lockdown. So, it suggested, the examinations at the end of the course or semester should now be held in July. The UGC-appointed expert's committee headed by IGNOU Vice Chancellor Nageshwar Rao on online education is in favor of adopting online examinations in view of the educational infrastructure, the diverse range of higher education institutions and local influences. Once the UGC gives the go-ahead to the recommendations, the government will have to adopt a legal course of action to push back the last date of admissions to medical and technical institutions. In the normal course, the last date for admissions to engineering institutions is August 15 and for medical colleges on August 31.