DU postpones final year online open-book exam till August 15

The Delhi University (DU) on Wednesday postponed the online open-book exams (OBE) for the final year undergraduate and postgraduate students till August 15. This is the second time within a month that the university has postponed the exams.

The Delhi University (DU) on Wednesday postponed the online open-book exams (OBE) for the final year undergraduate and postgraduate students till August 15. This is the second time within a month that the university has postponed the exams with the teachers and students demanding cancellation of exams in the prevailing situation due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO

Despite protest from teachers and students, the university had announced to conduct the online open book exams as a one-time measure amid the Covid-19 pandemic for around 210,000 final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students. The exams were scheduled to begin from Friday.

In a notification issued on Wednesday evening, DU Dean of examination Vinay Gupta said, “It is hereby notified for information to all concerned that the Open Book Examination (OBE) for all streams of final year/Semester/Term of undergraduate and postgraduate students including SOL (School of Open Learning) and Non Collegiate Women’s Education Board (NCWEB) scheduled to be held from 10th July, 2020 stands postponed. The OBE will now start after 15 August, 2020, whereas the revised date sheets and other relevant information will be notified in due course of time.”

Earlier on Wednesday, the university had informed the Delhi High Court that it has decided to postpone the exams till August 15. The university has cited two reasons behind the decision to postpone the exams --- the recent guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the complaints received from students on the issues they faced during the mock online tests in the last two days. The UGC on Monday directed all the universities and colleges to “compulsorily” hold final-year exams by the end of September 2020 in offline/online/blended mode.

While hearing the plea filed by several DU students, seeking cancellation of the online open-book exams, Justice Pratibha M Singh was told that the university’s high-powered committee on Tuesday night held a meeting and resolved that there was a requirement of a comprehensive review of the arrangements for the online open-book exams.

According to the DU council, the committee had received several complaints about students facing issues while taking online mock tests that had begun Saturday. “The committee has noted that there is a need to spread greater awareness about the OBE examination so that there are no misgivings either about the credibility of the examination process or about its efficacy,” senior advocate Sachin Dutta, appearing for DU, told the court

“Taking into account all aspects and circumstances, it is decided to postpone the holding of examinations after August 15,” Dutta said, reading from the minutes of the meeting during the court proceedings via video conferencing.

HT had on Sunday reported that hundreds of DU students had complained about technical glitches while appearing for the online mock tests.

Responding to this, the court remarked, “See how you are playing with the lives of the students. Look at the careers of the students….When you said that you are ready, then why are you postponing the exams”.

The court sent all the matters in connection to the DU online examination to a division bench, which was already hearing a matter with respect to the difficulties faced by visually-impaired students in taking online open-book exams.

Criticising the university’s decision of postponing exams, teachers and students said that the exams should have been cancelled considering the prevailing situation. Mehak Garg, a final-year Bcom student at Gargi College, said, “The university is playing with our future by further postponing exams. They should have cancelled the exams and promoted students based on the internal assessment. Further cancellation will affect our future choices. We cannot even give any job interview until the exams happen or take admission in postgraduate courses. Who will hire us without a degree?”

Delhi University had earlier scheduled final semester examinations from July 1. The exams were postponed by 10 days owing to the prevailing situation.

Abhijeet Shukla, a final year BA (Hons) Political Science student at Maharaja Agrasen College, said, “How can the university be sure that the students will be equipped with devices and proper internet connection by August 15? The university is not considering that the students are going through immense mental pressure due to the delay in getting their degrees.”

Pankaj Garg, an associate professor at Rajdhani College, said, “It is going to further aggravate the problems of students. The only solution is to cancel the exams and declare the results of students on the basis of past performance and current session internal assessment. The way Covid 19 cases are increasing every day there would be no improvement in the situation by August 15.”

Despite several attempts, DU Dean of Exams Vinay Gupta did not respond to calls and texts sent for comment. A senior official, requesting anonymity, said, “The university might go for a blend of offline and online exams, if the situation allows, in August. We are considering all possible ways to conduct exams of final-year students, as mandated by the UGC’s recent notification.”

The matter would be heard on Thursday by a bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Subramonium Prasad.