Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray informed today that the government has decided to cancel all final year and final semester exams for all professional and non-professional courses in the state, reports Times of India. The decision was taken due to the COVID-19 situation in the state.

The universities have the authority to decide and formulate on how they will be grading the students and promoting them, adds the report.

The statement from the CMO said, “Maharashtra government decided not to conduct the final year/final semester exam of non-professional/professional courses as the present atmosphere is not yet conducive to conduct any exam or classes. Also decided to award degree based on formula decided by universities,” reports TOI.

The report also said that the CM has written to the Prime Minister to instruct all national-level apex authorities including AICTE, Council of Architecture (COA), Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), Bar Council of India (BCI), National Council of Teachers Education (NCTE), and National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology (NHMCT) to endorse the decision and to issue guidelines to the universities.

UGC is also reported to recommend cancelling all final year examinations in its revised guidelines as the situation is not conducive to conduct exams amidst the rising COVID-19 cases.

The state government had already taken a decision to cancel all final year exams earlier; however, the governor of the state had issued contradictory statements and it was not clear if the decision also includes professional courses.