Final Year Exams: JFME demands withdrawal of UGC guidelines on exams through Online Petition to PM

The Joint Forum for Movement on Education (JFME) started an online petition on Change.org. It seeks the withdrawal of UGC Guidelines for final year exams. The petition is addressed to PM Modi and listed various reasons why the exams should not happen. It wants a fair, uniform and credible system of evaluation. The correspondent is Nandita Narain, JFME Chairperson.

In the detailed petition, she listed that JFME wants his immediate intervention for the withdrawal of the UGC Guidelines. They further want the immediate cancellation of the mandatory requirement of examinations for final year students and for alternative forms to be adopted for grant of degrees. Until now almost 9000 students have supported the petition.

Further, they have listed the following reasons as to why UGC should revise guidelines on final year exams.

1. The petition cites differential access to digital devices for online education. This is an inequality that UGC should not ignore and due to the COVID-19 crisis, many people are underprivileged. At a time like this, the UGC's revised guidelines are illogical, said the petition. Moreover, the blended or online mode of education cannot match upto the pen and paper exams as India still does not have that kind of infrastructure. It is also discriminatory to differently-abled students and those from an underprivileged background.

2. It further added that UGC guidelines also ignore the fact that Education is in the concurrent list. And hence State Governments also have a say in the decision.

3. "Other forms of credible and meaningful assessment like internal/continuous assessment and/or average scores of past semesters would meet the criteria of fairness and integrity better," says the petition in favour of alternative modes of assessment.

4. Next, the petition pointed out the pandemic. It said that it would be near impossible to conduct regular examinations by September. It will seriously compromise the safety of students, faculty and staff in most parts of the country.

5. The petition says that in addition to the pandemic, recent floods in several parts of the country and consequent problems of electricity etc. are one of the few difficulties in conducting fair online examinations.

About the degree

6. It also adds that if UGC cancels the final year exams, the degrees won't an undervalued one. This is because all semesters are modular and autonomous of each other. Tests examine students on the courses covered in only one semester and there is no overarching final examination. It pointed out that students going to give the final year exams have already given several rounds of formal evaluation and assessments.

7. UGC has already issued guidelines to conduct an assessment for intermediate students based on the average of past semesters and the internal assessment of the current semester. There is no reason to believe that UGC or Universities cannot adopt such an alternative for the final semester, it added.

8. It says, "The mandatory requirement of examinations will delay the grant of degrees to students who have already those who are in urgent need of these for further studies or employment."

The forum further seeks immediate intervention of the Prime Minister for the withdrawal the UGC Guidelines, the immediate cancellation of the mandatory requirement of final year exams.

You can sign the petition here.

Read More: UGC adamant on exams: Parents and Yuva Sena move to Supreme Court to postpone exams