Punjab government will be cancelling all the university and college exams in the state amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases, announced Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, on Saturday, reports NDTV. Universities will have an option to go ahead with their planned online exams if they choose to, adds the report.

The announcement was made by the CM in his weekly ‘AskCaptain’ Facebook live. The CM said that students will be evaluated based on their past performance and promoted. The report adds that the universities and colleges are working on modalities to implement the decision and an update will be given on the same next week.

The CM also said that students will have an option to appear for an exam whenever it will be conducted in case they are not happy with the scores.

Meanwhile, Punjab University said to NDTV that the university is waiting for the UGC guidelines before making any decision on the exams. NDTV said that PU’s dean of university instructions R K Singla informed that since the university has been preparing for the exams for quite some time, it will wait for the UGC guidelines to make a final decision.

With this announcement, the state has been added to the growing list of states announcing the cancellation of its university exams including the final year. Earlier, Maharashtra, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana had announced the cancellation of exams in universities and colleges in the state.

UGC, meanwhile, is expected to release its guidelines soon regarding the conduct of the university exams amidst the pandemic. Reports last week had suggested that a committee has been formed to look into the matter and a decision will be reached after the panel submits its assessment.