A ceaseless tussle is going on for over six months between the regulators and some of the universities regarding the conduct of the final year examinations. Both seem to have taken tough positions without making any resolute efforts to resolve it. Sadly, they have chosen to take their academic fight to the court causing enormous sufferings to both the students and the parents. It has taken an unpleasant turn because of certain arguments which do not seem to be tenable under the present circumstances when the entire civilisation is living under the shadow of the deadly pandemic.
There are a number of arguments going round in support of the implementation of the UGC’s guidelines which warrant the universities to conduct the final year examinations within September, 2020. UGC is the organization which is primarily responsible for the coordination and determination of standards in universities. It is within its right to issue guidelines in regard to the conduct of examination as it is provided for in its Regulations of 1985 regarding the Minimum Standards of Instructions for the Grant of the First Degree through Formal Education. UGC as a Regulator cannot turn a blind eye if standards of higher education are seen to be compromised anywhere in the university system.
But some of the arguments, which are making news in the media, leave scope for misapprehensions. Utmost care should have been taken before letting some of the statements out in the open like that the UGC alone is empowered to take a call on whether or not the exams should be cancelled and that how can states cancel the examinations when UGC is empowered to confer degrees and that such degrees will not be recognised by the UGC. Perhaps carefully crafted statements and timely consultations with the contesting States and Universities should have avoided the present crisis.
It is evident that the UGC had issued the first set of guidelines on 29 April asking the universities to schedule their examinations within July. When some of the States and the universities had expressed their strong reservations, the UGC issued their revised guidelines on 6 July asking the universities to hold their examinations within September 2020, in the online or offline mode following social distancing. By this time some major states and their universities had already taken a decision not to conduct the examinations and promote students on the basis of their average performance due to rising cases of Covid-19. This situation perhaps could have been obviated by organising consultations particularly with all those states and universities which as a matter of abundant precaution were not favouring examinations.
Some of the universities which are trying to comply with the guidelines of the UGC are struggling hard to conduct the online examinations because they do not have the necessary wherewithal which is required for a proctored examination. Some universities have, all of a sudden, come up with the concept of Open Book Examination (OBE) without comprehending the kind of academic efforts that go into the making of an OBE. It requires orientation of teachers of a very high order to frame questions which require cognitive operations at a much higher level, even higher than application, analysis and synthesis. It is unbelievable to acquire such a competence overnight. The news of students facing the harrowing time whilst writing the online OBE due to frequent crashing of websites are often seen in the media. The results of such an OBE, which is not institutionalized, are going to be far from satisfactory due to standard errors of measurement and evaluation that are going to creep into the system.
All universities established or incorporated by or under a State Act or a Central Act are Statutory Bodies. They are governed by their own Acts and Statutes and thus enjoy academic and administrative autonomy. There is no denying the fact that they have to adhere to certain commonly laid down norms and standards like the entry level qualifications of students for a program, duration of the programme, number of working days, specified nomenclature of the degrees, qualifications of the teachers, etc. But they are free to decide who to teach, what to teach, how to teach and how to certify the acquisition of knowledge of the learners. Although the autonomy of the universities in matters related to curriculum, pedagogies and assessment are paramount but in the present situation, arising out of pandemic, they have to take special responsibility to ensure the quality in the maintenance of standards irrespective of the mode for the delivery of education. They must see to it that the quality is not sacrificed at any cost.
Another argument which is in circulation is that it is the UGC which is empowered to confer degree. This appears to be at variance from what is mentioned in Section 22 of the UGC Act which has strikingly separated the role of the university and the UGC. Sub-Section (1) of Section 22 of the UGC Act provides right to conferring or granting the degrees only to a university and not to anyone else. However, the specification of the degrees is the sole prerogative of the UGC as is stipulated in SubSection (3) of Section 22 of the UGC Act which means that the degrees awarded shall be from amongst the specified degrees notified by the UGC with the prior approval of the Central Government.
Universities are social institutions and they have to operate within those social and physical conditions where they exist. If those conditions are not permitting them to perform certain inherent functions then being autonomous institutions they are within their rights to exercise their autonomy and take decisions which are professionally credible, legally defensible and publicly acceptable. Some of the Universities have exactly done the same thing when they decided to declare the results on the basis of the average performance of the earlier semesters, covering almost eighty five percent of the course contents, coupled with the sessional evaluation of the final semester. Such a move can safely pass the tests of professional credibility and legal defensibility provided it clears only those candidates whose averages are above the minimum cutoffs provided in the statutes or the ordinances of the university. Furthermore, it need not be seen merely as a move of cancelling the examination rather it may be considered as the need of the hour to protect the most productive workforce from the monstrous pandemic of the current century.
Universities are different kinds of organizations from other social organisations because of their complex roles and functions of sharing and creating new knowledge and which is why they should be provided enabling environment to manage their own affairs in maintaining standards of teaching and learning and research and extension. In these difficult times when we are facing a deadly pandemic all the stakeholders should rise to the occasion and amicably resolve this issue without any further delay as it is causing an enormous amount of distress to the students and parents. Universities should focus more on overcoming new challenges like that of extending and improving the reach of remote teaching and learning to every nook and corner of the country since there is no knowing how long the prospect of deadly pandemic will loom in our life.
The writer is former Chairman, UGC.