The academic year for graduate courses will begin on September 1 with online classes, the Karnataka government has announced. Offline classes will commence in October, Deputy Chief Minister and Higher Education Minister CN Ashwath Narayan told reporters. He was speaking to the media after inaugurating various development works in Ward Number 66 in Subramanya Nagar in Bengaluru.
The Deputy Chief Minister added that there should be guidance on beginning offline classes from the central government. While arrangements have been made for reopening colleges and resuming physical classes, they will await the Centre’s directions. The Karnataka government has, in the meantime, decided to commence full-fledged academic programs from next month.
On the issue of final year exams, Narayan said that these are schedules for all undergraduate, diploma and engineering students at the starting of the academic year as well. Backlogged exams will also be scheduled similarly.
Deputy CM Ashwath Narayan commented on the controversy surrounding the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) exam. Students have been protesting against holding NEET and Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) exams amid the COVID-19 pandemic and have been asking for postponement. However, per latest reports, there is no such plan and the Ministry of Home Affairs has said that the Ministry of Education will take the final call on whether or not to go ahead with the exams next month.
“The government has successfully passed CET exams for more than 1.94 lakh students in the state. In addition, 63 coronavirus positive students have also taken a good rank. But I don’t understand why a few people are against conducting NEET exams,” he said.
“Some vested interests have been trying to disrupt the NEET examination since the beginning. There is a huge network behind it. These efforts have been going on for many years. However, their purpose is not fulfilled. The NEET test is excellent. This is the practice of getting admission across the country through a test,” said the Deputy CM.
He added that the state government is ready to conduct the NEET exams.