Authors
A notice by the University Grants Commission (UGC) regarding offline examinations in all universities for the upcoming semesters is widely shared online. As students took to social media asking if the notice was real, UGC confirmed the viral notice to be imposter content.
The fake notice with UGC letterhead dated December 10 reads, ‘…all the Universities are hereby advised to conduct all the current and future semester examinations in offline mode in their home centers with maintaining COVID19 protocols…’
Several posts on Twitter tagged the UGC and asked if the notice is real. One such post by @souresh reads, ‘@ugc_india is this notice real. Not available on UGC website.’
Newschecker found the image of the notice also on Facebook.
In addition, Newschecker received a request from a user on its WhatsApp helpline number (+91 9999499044), to check the veracity of the image.
Factcheck/Verification
To check if the notice was issued by the UGC, Newschecker ran a keyword search on Twitter and found a post by PIB fact-check, the government’s fact-checking bureau dated December 12 which carries the viral notice with a stamp reading ‘FAKE’ written over it.
The tweet reads, ‘…University Grants Commission has NOT issued any such notice,’ and has a link to the official website of UGC.
On searching the UGC website we found a clarification notice stating, a circular on conducting, ‘offline examination in universities and colleges, has appeared in various print and electronic media including social media. It is hereby clarified that the said public notice has not been issued by the UGC.’
The notice dated December 13 further added, ‘all the public notices issued by UGC are regularly uploaded on the UGC website.’
Further UGC has also clarified regarding the fake notice on its official Twitter handle along with the image from PIB’s fact-check.
Conclusion
The notice by UGC stating all examinations to be held offline is fake. UGC has clarified that it has not issued any such notification.
Result: Imposter Content
Our Sources
PIB Fact-Check
UGC’s clarification
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