DU online exams: Finding scribes proves difficult for visually challenged students

Although the university on Thursday asked all colleges and departments to help students in arranging scribes, officials admitted that they will only be able to help those living in Delhi.

With Delhi University all set to hold exams online from July 1 in the open-book format for final-year students, finding scribes has become a major challenge for visually impaired students who will now have to arrange devices and internet facility for those helping them take the exams.

The DU had last week announced that it will conduct online exams in the open book exams (OBE) format for all final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students as a one-time measure in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. (HT file photo. Representative image)

Although the university on Thursday asked all colleges and departments to help students in arranging scribes, officials admitted that they will only be able to help those living in Delhi.

The DU had last week announced that it will conduct online exams in the open book exams (OBE) format for all final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students as a one-time measure in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a notification issued on Thursday, dean examination Vinay Gupta said students enrolled under the persons with disability category will be given five hours to complete their exam instead of three, proscribed for others. He directed colleges, faculties and departments to help students in arranging scribes. “For this, students are advised to send their requests related to the (scribe) requirement to the college,” the notification read.

For those special students who are unable to take the online exams in July, DU will give them another opportunity -- in pen and paper mode -- once they return to the campus. Anil Aneja, official special duty (OSD) at DU’s equal opportunity cell, said, “We are taking care of all students with disabilities and have asked colleges to reach out to each of them and help them in taking online exams in these unprecedented times. In case a student is unable to appear for the online exam, we will provide them scribes once they are back on the campus.”

Many college principals said they can only help provide scribes to students who are in Delhi. Manoj Sinha, principal of Aryabhatta College, said, “We will even allow students to take their exams on the college computers and Wi-Fi and will also provide scribes to them. But this will only be possible for students who are in Delhi. Those who are living in their home states will have to arrange scribes for themselves.”

A head of the department (HoD) in DU, requesting anonymity, said it will not be possible for departments to arrange scribes in different cities. “The colleges and departments can provide every possible help to the students if they are here with us. But when they are staying in their home states how can we arrange for scribes there? There is anyway no criteria fixed for the scribes now, so it will be easier for students to take help from anyone available,” he said.

According to the guidelines of the Union ministry of social justice & empowerment, there is no fixed criteria of educational qualification, marks scored, or age for scribes.

However, several visually impaired students living in villages and small towns amid the Covid-19 pandemic raised concerns over the unavailability of scribes or writers in their localities.

Sangeeta, 21, a BA (prog) student at Shyama Prasad Mukherjee College, said she is a first-generation learner in her family who lives in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi. “The moment I got to know that DU is conducting online exams, I felt absolutely helpless. I have a smartphone but there are no books in Braille here with me since I had come home for the Holi break when the lockdown was announced. My parents are not educated and my brother had studied only till class 5. I have no one to help me with the exams,” she said.

‘If I appear in exams in August or September, I will be late for my BEd admission,” she said.

Amit Kumar Shukla, a BA (prog) student of SGND Khalsa College in DU’s south campus, said that even if he finds a scribe in his village in Aurangabad (Bihar), he cannot trust them to write exams for him in a totally new format. “If I ask anyone available in the village to write the exam for me, (s)he would not be able to understand the format, and I will lose a year. DU should promote the students like us on the basis of our previous year results,” he said.