Aaditya Thackeray Challenges UGC's Decision To Conduct Final Year Exams, Files Petition In SC

The UGC said final year semester exams would compulsorily be held by the end of September, in either fully offline (pen and paper), fully online or blended (offline + online) mode

Yuva Sena president Aaditya Thackeray/ Image tweeted by @AUThackeray

New Delhi: After the UGC announced its decision to compulsorily conduct the final year exams, fear and anxiety have been looming among the students due to the massive rise in the number of coronavirus infections. Concerned about the students' health, Maharashtra cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray moved the Supreme Court on Saturday against the center's decision to hold final year exams for colleges and universities in September, after they were postponed from earlier this year due to the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown. The petition has been filed by the Yuva Sena, which is the youth wing of the ruling Shiv Sena and is led by Thackeray. ALSO READ|Majority Of Universities Across Country To Conduct Examination As Per UGC Guidelines In its statement, the Yuva Sena said the central government was "ignoring physical and mental health, anxiety and safety of students across the country" in allowing examinations to be held. "COVID-19 is a national disaster, in view of which the UGC should have cancelled final year exams... however, it seems the UGC has not understood the full extent of dilemma the country is facing," the Yuva Sena statement said. Aaditya, who heads the Yuva Sena, has prayed that each university be allowed to chart out its own plan of action with respect to the terminal semester/final year examinations depending on the local conditions in their respective states to provide relief to students. 'End Semester Exams cancelled in IITs' Pointing out the risk of COVID-19 transmission as students and exam invigilators travel to and from exam centers, the Yuva Sena said that major educational institutions across the country, such as the IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) had already cancelled final year exams. The organisation called for students to be promoted on the aggregate of marks scored so far in their academic year. The Maharashtra government earlier said that students looking to improve on these averages could sit for exams, but only when these can be held safely. Thackeray calls UGC's decision 'absurd and for the alternate universe' On Friday Aaditya Thackeray slammed the Human Resources Ministry after the UGC (University Grants Commission) said final year exams would be held later this year. He called the decision "absolutely absurd and probably from an alternate universe". Thackeray tweeted, asking if the UGC would "take responsibility for the health of each student" and warned that the lives of lakhs of students and teaching staff were at stake.

The decision of the HRD Ministry of Union Govt, and the UGC is absolutely absurd and probably from an alternate universe. I urge UGC to not make this a silly issue of egos and realise that lakhs of lives of students, teachers, non teaching staff are at stake. (1/n)

— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) July 10, 2020

Yuva Sena and Aaditya’s move come days after the Disaster Management Committee headed by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray reiterated its earlier decision to cancel the final year examinations in Maharashtra during the present coronavirus pandemic. The Maharashtra government isn't the only one to call for final year exams to be scrapped; earlier this month Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to "personally intervene" Final year exams for universities and colleges run by the Delhi government have already been cancelled.