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DU’s School of Open Learning students protest semester exams
New Delhi
New Delhi
Two days after the Delhi University’s Executive Council (EC) decided to replace annual examinations with semesters for its non-regular students, four students from School of Open Learning began an indefinite hunger strike on Tuesday.
The students and activists protesting against the move demand withdrawal of the decision and DU vice-chancellor’s resignation. “Over 1.5 lakh students have already been admitted under the annual examination mode but DU’s V-C is insisting on bulldozing through with Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) without any deliberation with the students,” Harish Gautam, a final-year student at SOL, who was among the four students who sat on hunger strike.
The students said they would tie black bands around their mouths and continue their hunger strike on Wednesday as well.
On Saturday, the varsity’s EC adopted semester-wise examinations for its SOL and Non-Collegiate Women Education Board (NCWEB) courses in order to ensure parity with regular DU colleges which adopted CBCS system in 2015.
Students, however, said the move is unfair to students who applied for admission to SOL under the annual exam mode. “There is no new study material based on the CBCS format and SOL is busy distributing the old study material,” Gautam said. “There is no clue as to when the Personal Contact Programme (PCP) classes will start. Students are ignorant of the changes and no steps have been taken to inform them that they will have to take their exams in semester mode.”
Students also do not know what subjects they would be taking exams for under CBCS, Gautam added.
“The implementation of the new system without extensive discussion and prior knowledge is a huge injustice to the students,” said members of Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), a student-led organisation. “The long-standing demands of the correspondence related to infrastructure should be fulfilled before CBCS is implemented.”
Janmejoy Khuntia, SOL staff council secretary, said, “As teachers, we must listen to these students and try to resolve their issues. These students are mostly from the deprived section and if they are sitting on strike, there should be a dialogue to address their concerns.”
