The decision of the state government to conduct examination of colleges and universities in the month of July has evoked diverging reactions from the student organisations. The National Students Union of India (NSUI), the student body politically affiliated to the Congress has opposed the decision of holding the examinations.

The NSUI wants that the students should be awarded marks on the basis of internal assessments and should be promoted to next classes without the examination.

The state president of the NSUI, Mohan Bhandari said that since not all students are able to get connected to online classes due to various reasons, the final examinations should not be held.

He said that all the students should be promoted on the basis of past performances and the students of last year or semester should be awarded 10 percent additional marks. Recently the NSUI has undertaken an online drive in which its petition on examination was signed by about one lakh students. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidhayarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP however holds a divergent view. Senior ABVP leader, Paras Goyal said that online classes are being held and the examinations should be conducted and no student should be detained in them.

On Thursday, the Principal Secretary higher education, Anand Bardhan had asked all the state varsities and colleges to hold final examinations in the month of July.

He said that syllabuses should be completed by June 7 and the examinations should start from July 1. Similarly the new session for old students should start from August while for new students it should start from September 1.

In a related development the academic council of HNB Garhwal University which is a central university had decided that it would hold examinations of only final year students this year and the examination would be based on multiple choice questions.

The university would provide OMR sheets to the students during the examinations in which they would have to mark the correct answers.

The HNB University also decided to promote the students of intermediate semesters on the basis of internal assessment and marks obtained in last semester examination. The university also decided to do away the practical examinations and it was agreed in the academic council that the instead practical, the marks would be awarded on the assignments.

In view of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the universities and colleges of the state are closed since March 15 and the students are being taught by the means of online classes.