Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to ensure that the University Grants Commission (UGC) withdraw its guideline making final semester examinations mandatory in colleges and varsities. The reason being it will increase the risk of students getting infected to COVID-19. In a revised guideline on July 6, UGC had stated that final semester examinations for students will be mandatory and should be held by the end of September 2020. Banerjee raised the issue during the video conference with the Prime Minister on Monday. She said: "UGC had given a letter on April 29 stating that terminal examinations are not compulsory. Necessary moves were taken to make assessment of students to give promotion on the basis of their previous results as per the guideline. Later on July 6 UGC issued another guideline making the examinations mandatory." "How it will be possible to conduct examinations as educational institutions are now closed in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak. At the same time it will increase the risk of the students getting infected with the disease. So I would request you to urge the Education Ministry to take up the matter with UGC to withdraw the decision and to remain stick to its April 29 guidelines," Banerjee told the Prime Minister adding that her government had written to the Centre in this regard on July 11. Many other states had also written to the Centre on the same issue. State Education minister Partha Chatterjee had also informed the Chancellor of the state universities, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, that the state government will not put the students lives at risk by conducting the examinations in the month of September and the state is following the first guidelines of the UGC in this regard. Higher Education Departments Principal Secretary Manish Jain also wrote to Amit Khare of the Department of Higher Education of Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) stating that such a decision without consulting the state is against the spirit of the countrys federal structure.

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