Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwathnarayan has said that university-level examinations, including graduation, post-graduation, engineering, diploma and other courses, will be conducted according to the schedule. Narayana also clarified that following the completion of the impending examinations, there will be no summer holidays.
The Deputy CM, who is also the in-charge of higher education portfolio, told media that the academic activities for the year 2021-22 have already been delayed and there should not be further delay, therefore no academic activities will be suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic but will be held as per the scheduled time table.
He added that in case of any further delay, the cycle of course period, test, results, employment, further studies would get severely affected hence, the state government would be taking tough measures to ensure the academic activities for the year 2021-22 are not affected based on the year-long experience of tackling the pandemic.
"I appeal to the student community to not harbour any doubt about the scheduled time table of the examinations," Ashwathnarayan added. "Academic year 2021-22 will start functioning immediately and students will have both the options of offline and online classes," he said, adding that online classes would start quite early and this year it will be mandatory for students either to attend the classes.
The Deputy CM said that all the universities and colleges will have to follow the standard operating procedure to contain the spread of COVID-19 when conducting off-line classes.
"Those institutions opt to conduct off-line classes, they will have to adhere to all SOP's in the interest of those who attend the physical classes. Sanitization of classrooms, maintenance of hygiene, COVID-19 test, maintenance of physical distance and wearing of masks will be compulsory," he added.
Ashwathnarayan said that the Integrated Learning Management System (LMS) was already implemented in view of COVID-19.