DU students and teachers raise concerns over exam dates

Delhi University students and teachers are frustrated over frequent revisions to exam dates, causing stress and conflicts with internships and entrance tests.

Students and teachers have raised concerns over the Delhi University datesheets being revised several times, including as late as Thursday, when a new version said undergraduate examinations would start from May 16 and end on June 14.

Students said the changing datesheet has affected their various arrangements for internships and travel . (Amal KS/HT PHOTO)

“They changed the datesheet four times,” Abha Dev Habib, secretary of the Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF), told HT. The first datesheet, she said, was released in the last week of March and had scheduled most of the exams in June. The datesheet was changed again after teachers protested that this would force them to invigilate during vacation.

“A circular was then issued saying that no postgraduate examinations would be held between May 20 and 25, but that applied to the undergraduate exams as well and the exams were again pushed to June 20. Now they have changed it again,” said Habib, who is also a professor at Miranda House.

Students said the changing datesheet has affected their various arrangements for internships and travel —particularly for outstation students, and made it difficult to sit forentrance tests for postgraduate courses or other competitive examinations.

The DU administration did not respond to HT’s requests for a comment.

A student from DU, asking not to be named, said she had a earlier written to reschedule one of her exams from May 18 to May 19 since she had secured an interview with the Indian Institute of Sciences in Bengaluru.

“But now the datesheet has been changed again, and two of my DU exams are falling on May 18 and 20. The university is not allowing me to further reschedule so I will have to leave Delhi on 18 after the exam, give the entrance test the next day, and immediately fly back for the next exam,” said the student. It leaves no room for errors, delays, and no time for proper revisions.

Miranda House Students’ Union president, Priyanka Rani, “Many students had already planned their study timetable and bookings according to the earlier datesheet, so sudden revisions created uncertainty and additional pressure.”

Students also flagged that some exams had been scheduled for Sunday in the new datesheet.

“Weekends are usually important for revision and mental preparation, so this has added to students’ stress and concerns regarding scheduling conflicts,” Rani added.

Another professor, requesting anonymity said, “It is very unfortunate that students are being held ransom due to the inefficiency of the university administration. There appears to be no coordination within the decision-making bodies. They postpone the exams, then realise the problems that come with that, then change it back again.”