The University Grants Commission (UGC) has allowed women PhD and MPhil students to take 6-month maternity leave but only once during the entire tenure. As per the UGC’s current provision, the Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of MPhil and PhD Regulations, 2016, female students can be provided maternity leave or childcare leave of up to 240 days in the course of MPhil and PhD.
“The women candidate may be provided Maternity leave/Child Care
Leave once in the entire duration of M.Phil/Ph.D. for up to 240 days,” the official notice said. The commission has directed vice-chancellors of all universities across the country to develop the framework for granting maternity leave to women students enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
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In addition to the current provisions, the UGC directed all higher education institutions to frame appropriate rules for offering exemptions related to attendance, extension in date for submitting examination, or other facilities considered necessary for women students pursuing undergraduate and post-graduate programmes.
Meanwhile, UGC in an earlier notification issued guidelines for COVID-19 appropriate behaviour in higher education institutes (HEIs) as they re-open for physical classes and examination. The commission during the course of the pandemic and lockdowns that followed continued issuing guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in respect to conducting the examination.
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In a notification, which was issued on December 13, the UGC cited another Ministry of Health and Family Welfare order to request all colleges to follow COVID-19 guidelines and appropriate behaviours as universities open up for physical attendance and examination.
Students from different central and state universities have been opposing the move to hold offline examinations through online campaigns. While many states governments, including Madhya Pradesh, have directed universities to hold online exams, others haven’t made their position clear so far.
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