Bangalore University postpones all UG and PG exams indefinitely

Amid the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bangalore University has postponed all under-graduate, post-graduate and engineering examinations, which were scheduled to begin on April 19, indefinitely until further orders. “Bangalore University UG, PG and Engineering Examinations has been postponed until further orders due to COVID-19 pandemic and transportation problems,” KR Venugopal, the Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University, said.

The Vice-Chancellor said that exams were also postponed due to the transportation issues referring to the ongoing strike of Road Transport Corporation workers and curfews in various states due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.

The exams were earlier scheduled to begin from April 7, and were then rescheduled to April 19 in the wake of indefinite strike by the state transport corporation employees. While speaking to ANI on April 10, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan, who holds the Higher Education Portfolio, had assured that the university examinations would proceed as scheduled. He had also said that the students’ classes will begin as soon as the examinations get over. The students would be given an option of attending physical classes after initial online classes, the Minister had said.

The Minister on April 12 also noted that conducting online examinations was not feasible with the current infrastructure available at government-run colleges and universities. A report in the Times of India quoted him saying that only a few deemed universities had the capability to conduct online examinations.

The Minister had conducted a meeting with department officials in the wake of spurt in COVID-19 cases. He had told the media that some parents and pupils had put forth the demand of conducting online examinations.

Examinations are being cancelled or postponed owing to the sudden spurt in cases across India. The National Eligibility cum Entrance test (NEET) for postgraduate students, which was scheduled to be held on April 18, has been postponed as well.