Odisha Education Minister requests MHRD to stop making exams compulsory

Odisha 's minister of higher education, Arun Kumar Sahoo, once again called on the human resource development ministry to cancel Thursday's final-year exams at state universities.

Sahoo in a letter addressed to Ramesh Pokriyal 'Nishank' said that most students in the state do not have the facilities to appear for an online exam, such as internet, laptops or smartphones.

"In Odisha the number of students [undergraduate and postgraduate] is about 2 lakh. Most of them belong to the middle-income group, and have no home desktop, laptop, or decent smartphones, "Sahoo wrote. "Most of them remain without a reliable internet connection in rural areas too," he added.

Sahoo further explained that the risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus could be increased by "physical examination" Several state colleges have been turned into quarantine centers to accommodate the surge in patients, Sahoo said in the letter.

On July 6, the University Grants Commission published revised guidelines for conducting university semester exams. The commission recommended conducting exams by the end of September in offline / online or blended mode.

Semester exams and COVID-19

With no public transportation plying due to increased cases of coronavirus, the students will not be able to travel in offline mode to write the exam, Sahoo said.

The minister also said that accommodating students while keeping COVID-19 protocols is a "Herculean task."

Many students who stayed earlier in paying accommodation for guests and private hostels will also face problems with lodging due to coronavirus scare.

The state minister had written to Pokhriyal earlier July 7 to advise against conducting final year exams for undergraduate and postgraduate students. There has been no response from the MHRD though.

Alternative evaluation

The minister has urged the Pokhriyal to consider an "alternative evaluation system" for intermediate and final year students as an alternative to conducting pandemic exams.

"Students [who are] not satisfied with the alternative evaluation system will still get a chance to appear in the November / December physical examination once the COVID situation improves," wrote Sahoo.

Based on the alternative evaluation, the results of the semester will be published by 31 August, to avoid the minister's further added "derailment of an academic calendar."