Nagpur: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) said on Wednesday, July 22, 2020, that the varsity will be conducting June Term End examinations for final year or final semester students of Master Degree, Bachelor’s Degree, Post-Graduate Diploma, Diploma and Certificate programmes in the first week of September. The decision has been taken in regard to the revised UGC guidelines and notification issued on the varsity’s official website.
However, IGNOU has ruled out cancellation of exams for any of its students. According to the UGC guidelines, final year/semester students will take the written exam in September and if any student unable to take the September TEE due to the ongoing pandemic, will be given another chance in December TEE.
On Tuesday, varsity’s Academic Council members met and reached a decision that written exams have to be conducted for students, regardless of the year/semester they are enrolled in.
Lakhs of students have been enrolled in the university this year and many were hoping that those in intermediate years/semester will get promoted after cancellation of exams. However, IGNOU had reported last week itself that it is unlikely to do away with examinations due to ‘technical’ issues.
A very high ranking official at IGNOU told TOI, these technical issues are related to the varsity’s status as a distance learning institute.
“We have to ensure credibility of degrees issued by Ignou. Majority of our students are professionals who are study on the side. And the time frame to complete a three year degree is up to six years. So to compromise on quality by skipping exams for a complete year/semester won’t help their cause,” said the official.
The same official also said the bi-annual admission cycle as another reason for conflict over who gets the waiver, “admissions are done in January and July, with exams held in December and June respectively. So technically, only those who were due to appear in June should get the waiver because that’s when the lockdown happened.”
Then there is the possibility of some students who must have taken in January 2019 term-end exams (TEE) but chose to skip and appear in June, and demand exam waiver. “To how many people will the waiver be given,” the official told sourrces.
Although final year/semester exams are scheduled to be held in September, not all students will be eligible to appear for it. The final date of filling the TEE form for September 2020 is July 31. Regional centres would inform students about practical exams (if applicable).
