The government wants final-year students of undergraduate and postgraduate courses not to have to take any pen-and-paper exams this year because of the Covid-19 threat.

It has nudged the higher education regulator to revise its guidelines that mandated exams for final-year students, although sources said that online exams were still an option for universities capable of conducting them.

If the University Grants Commission revises its guidelines and the universities accept the latest recommendation, which looks likely, some final-year students may be awarded grades on the basis of their average scores in previous semesters and internal assessment.

The successful among them will then be awarded their degrees without a final exam. Several IITs have adopted this approach.

Internal-assessment scores are based on assignments, mid-term examinations and projects.

Human resource development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal’s nudge to the UGC came in a tweet on Wednesday.

“I have advised the @UGC_india to reconsider the guidelines issued earlier for Intermediate and terminal semester examinations and academic calendar. The foundation for revisited guidelines shall be health and safety (of) students, teachers and staff,” Pokhriyal tweeted.

A UGC official said a committee headed by R.C. Kuhad that had earlier suggested holding final-year exams had handed in a revised proposal recommending their cancellation.

However, some universities like Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University have already begun the process for conducting online final-year exams.

The UGC official said the commission would meet soon “to look at these universities’ preparations and take a final decision on its recommendations”.

Even if some well-prepared universities are allowed to conduct online exams, the UGC will discourage pen-and-paper exams, the official said.

The Delhi University Teachers’ Association, which has been opposing the university’s proposal to hold online or “open-book examinations”, construed Pokhriyal’s stand as one against any kind of exam and welcomed it.

Association president Rajib Ray said the minister’s announcement had vindicated the teachers’ and students’ “collective efforts” against the online-exam proposal. He urged the vice-chancellor to accept the expert panel’s revised suggestion and end the uncertainty.

Ray said online exams would “discriminate” against students from the deprived sections “and erode the sanctity of the examination process”.

The UGC had in April issued guidelines saying exams should be held in July for final-year undergraduate and master’s students.

It said students of the intermediate semesters would be graded on the basis of their internal assessment scores in the current and previous semester.

The guidelines said that academic session 2020-21 might start from August 1 for old students and from September 1 for fresh students. With the Covid-19 infections still rising, the calendar may now be revised.