HC pulls up DU for lack of preparation regarding exams for differently abled students

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday pulled up the Delhi University for its lack of preparation and facilities, including the arrangement of scribes and CSE Centres,

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday pulled up the Delhi University for its lack of preparation and facilities, including the arrangement of scribes and CSE Centres, for differently abled students to facilitate them to appear in the Open Book Examinations (OBE) for final-year undergraduate courses.

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“This is how you are concerned about the career of differently abled students who have to appear for final-year exams. We are aware of the challenge to UGC guidelines that is before the Supreme Court. But we will surely ask questions about your preparation for the exams,” a bench comprising justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad said.

“I am sure DU is cognisant of the fact that the career of students is at stake, how can you be so slow,” Justice Kohli asked the university.

The court sought to know how many students in the Persons with Disabilities (PwD) category have applied to take exams through Common Service (CSE) Centers, which have been set up to provide services to students who do not have the infrastructure to attend OBE.

The counsel appearing for the University said he would require time to get the details.

The court was hearing a plea by a law student Prateek Sharma and the National Federation of Blind through a senior advocate SK Rungta seeking to set up effective mechanisms for visually impaired and specially abled students so that educational instructions can be imparted to them properly via the online mode of teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Appearing for one of the petitioners, senior advocate Rungta told the court that about 200 students could not appear for the mock test because of lack of assisting devices, reading material and scribes. He said when colleges were informed about the need for writing scribes, one of the principals said they could not provide them without knowing the health status of the student during the pandemic.

The high court sought to know whether the claim of petitioners was true while noting that the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Ministry of Electronics and Technology were earlier directed to file affidavits about the CSE centres and their preparation, including the availability of scribes.

“However, the affidavit filed by the Ministry of Electronics and Technology is silent on the number of non-functional CSE centres”, the bench said, adding that the issue of absence of infrastructure at the centres is yet to be addressed. It said despite directions, DU has not filed its affidavit in the matter and sought time to do so.

“It is important for us to know that if the students who have asked for scribes will be able to interact with them two days before the exams,” the bench said while noting the submission of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Sharma, that as per the varsity’s guidelines, scribes will be given to the students before the exams to check for suitability.

The high court asked the representative of CSE Academy, which has an agreement with DU to help the varsity in conducting the OBE, to be present before it on July 30, to know how many CSE centres across the country are situated in metropolitan and rural areas.

It also sought to know that out of 2,75 lakh students who have applied for OBE, how many have asked for the services of CSE centres and how many reside in remote places.

DU’s professor Anil Aneja, who handles the issues of PwD students at DU, said that students had to buy assistant devices on their own but they have not received any request for reimbursements.

The matter will be now heard on July 30.