Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan has asked Vice-Chancellors of the universities in the State to conduct examinations for the final year students in strict adherence to the COVID-19 protocol, as per the UGC guidelines.

Addressing a meeting of the Vice-Chancellors and other administrators of the State universities through a video conference from Raj Bhavan here on Friday, the Governor, who is also the Chancellor of the State universities, said the higher education institutions were forced to opt for conduct of online classes in virtual mode because of the situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Admitting that online classes could not replace the traditional classroom teaching methodology, he said to overcome the challenges, the education institutions should restructure and redesign the curriculum to suit the conditions.

After interacting with the Vice-Chancellors of 20 universities, the Governor expressed satisfaction over the innovative methodologies adopted by them to finish the syllabus of the previous academic year using technology and also the steps taken to commence the next academic year.

‘Fully prepared’

The Vice-Chancellors said they were fully prepared to conduct examinations for the final year students of undergraduate and post-graduate courses, as per UGC guidelines, either in off-line or online mode, duly following the COVID-19 protocols.

Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh said despite the unprecedented crisis generated by the pandemic, the government was doing all it could to uphold the sanctity of the education system and maintain integrity in the conduct of examinations.

Chairman of the AP State Council of Higher Education K. Hemachandra Reddy, Secretary to the Governor Mukesh Kumar Meena, Special Commissioner, Collegiate Education, M.M. Naik, and others were present.