Differently Abled To Get Minimum One Hour Extra Time Even With Scribe: UGC’s New Higher Education Guidelines

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has released a latest provision for Persons With Benchmark Disability (PwBD) and has asked all higher education institutions to provide a minimum one-hour 'compensatory time' for a 3-hour examination despite their use of scribe.

A letter was issued by the UGC on 21 February (Thursday) to all the registrars, and strict action was called.

"All candidates with benchmark disabilities who are eligible for availing the facility of a scribe... may be allowed additional time of minimum of one-hour for examination of three hours duration, whether they use the facility of a scribe or not," said the letter as reported by India Today.

According to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment’s norm, a person with benchmark disability can only avail the one-hour extra time if he or she is 'not' availing the service of a scribe.

Furthermore, the guidelines also cite that the additional time should not be less than 20 minutes per hour of examination. However, if the examination is less than one hour long, the additional time must be allocated accordingly on a pro-rata basis.