Srinagar: With the number of Covid-19 cases in the valley on a rise, universities in Kashmir are mulling the option of holding clubbed semester-end examinations to compensate the lost academic time, Kashmir Reader has learnt.

While the government has asked educational institutions to switch to online platforms of learning, universities in Kashmir are finding themselves in a spot of fix with regard to conducting various semester-end examinations.

Conducting examinations now is out of the question, and there is no knowing how long the lockdown will last. This puts the academic degrees and careers of thousands of students at stake.

Because of such fears, the option of conducting combined semester examinations at the Central University of Kashmir is wide open, the varsity’s Registrar, Prof Fayaz Ahmad Nika, told Kashmir Reader.

Prof Nika, however, emphasised that a call on the combined semester-end examinations will be a “situational decision”.

“Everything will be dictated by the circumstances,” he said.

While the prevailing lockdown is essential to save lives, Prof Nika said that they were also concerned about academic work and examinations at the varsity.

As per CUK’s Controller Examinations, Prof Parveen Pandit, the varsity had scheduled 1st and 3rd semester examinations from April 20th onwards. Besides, the MEd semester examinations that had just begun have also been disrupted. Prof Pandit said that the students had appeared in only the first paper of the exams.

Vice Chancellor, Cluster University Srinagar, Prof Sheikh Javed also said that they might conduct simultaneous semester examinations in case the prevailing lockdown gets extended.

Holding examinations in such a situation is out of the question, Prof Javed said, adding that the varsity has already announced it will extend the dates of the backlog examinations and also defer the 2nd and 4th semester examinations which were scheduled from April 1 onwards.

Prof Javed, however, added that a decision with regard to combined examinations will be taken once the universities reopen in the valley.

Registrar Kashmir University, Prof Nisar Ahmad Mir, said that the varsity administration will take a call on the fate of the upcoming examinations once the prevailing lockdown ends.

The KU had on Wednesday put on hold the process of submitting examination forms for undergraduate 5th and 6th semester examinations due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.

Irshad Khan