After niggling troubles, DU students to get an extra hour to upload scripts

Sunday’s announcement comes after several students, on the first day of the exams on Saturday, complained of troubles while uploading answer scripts.

Delhi University (DU) officials on Sunday said second and third-year students appearing in the ongoing online open-book exams (OBE) will be allowed an extra hour to submit their answer scripts should they need it, after niggling troubles plagued examinees on the first day of the tests.

Students were allowed four hours to download the question paper, complete the exam, and upload the answer script. Now, students will have five hours to complete the entire process. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

Earlier, students were allowed four hours to download the question paper, complete the exam, and upload the answer script. Now, students will have five hours to complete the entire process.

The second set of open-book exams will be held on Monday, when the order comes into effect.

Sunday’s announcement comes after several students, on the first day of the exams on Saturday, complained of troubles while uploading answer scripts.

However, the notification ratifying the move, also specified that students who make use of the additional time will need to prove they were unable to submit their scripts within the first four hours, and will need to upload screenshots of the delays or errors.

“Screenshots of the failure in uploading answer sheets are recorded by the students after making four-five attempts by way of taking screenshots of the screen and submitting along with the script and saving all such records,” DU dean of examinations DS Rawat said in the notification issued on Sunday.

In the event that students are still unable to upload the answer script within five hours, the University has allowed them to mail their papers to the nodal officers of their respective colleges. The email should be sent within 10 minutes of the five-hours elapsing, and students will have to send screenshots of failed attempts to upload the answer on the portal.

“Emails sent by students prior to the completion of five hours shall not be accepted,” the notification added.

The University has warned students of a possible delay in the results of exams for which answer scripts are sent over mail. “Answer scripts submitted through email in such exceptional cases would entail a delay in result declaration as happened during OBE-1 unlike the answer scripts submitted through online OBE portal,” Rawat said in the notification.

The varsity’s decision to conduct OBE as a one-time measure in view of the Covid-19 pandemic was met with staunch opposition from several students and faculty members. Despite this, these exams were held for the university’s 260,000 final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students between August 10 and 31. Several final-year UG students had alleged a delay in the announcement of results and also reported errors in their results.