Amid the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Chhattisgarh Higher Education Department has decided not to conduct university exams for students barring those for the final year.

An official communique here said that the annual and semester exams of state universities, which were abruptly postponed due to the coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown, will not be held.

Examinations for students of the final year and final semester will take place after the lockdown ends, it said.

"In view of the measures being taken to curb COVID-19, exams will be held only for final year/semester of the    universities. An order in this regard was issued by the Higher Education Department on Monday evening," the statement said.

However, all annual and semester exams of correspondence (non-regular) students of universities will be held after the lockdown ends, it said.

Besides, the department has asked universities to evaluate the answer sheets of students, for which examinations were held before March 14 (for graduate and post-graduate students except for final year/final semester).

The universities have also been asked to award marks for remaining subjects (in which examinations will not be held), either based on the students' previous exam performance or marks obtained in the internal exams or assignment tasks, the statement said.

If any student is not satisfied with the marks given through this process and wants to improve his/her grade, then special examinations will be held for such students next year.