OBE glitches: DU students receive two question papers for one exam

There were glitches during online the open-book examination (OBE) conducted by Delhi University on Friday as students complained of receiving the wrong question

There were glitches during online the open-book examination (OBE) conducted by Delhi University on Friday as students complained of receiving the wrong question paper. The university began its first OBE exam on August 10 for final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students as a one-time measure due to the Covid-19 crisis amid resistance from teachers and students.

HT Image

“At around 11am, we got an email from DU which had the question paper…it was sent as “sample question paper for mock test”. We were confused and decided to wait till 11.30am to check whether there was any difference in the question paper uploaded only on the OBE portal. By 11.30am, we found the same question paper on the OBE site and started writing,” said Sneha Shaji, an undergraduate student from Kerala, who wrote her Political Science exam on Friday.

Apart from the university’s exam portal, students can also access the question paper sent to them over e-mail.

“I didn’t know when the second question paper was uploaded by the administration and saw it only after completing my exam and sending the answer sheets via email,” she said, adding that only students who checked WhatsApp groups between the exam got access to the correct question paper.

Seema Swami, an undergraduate student at the varsity’s School of Open Learning, said she also received the wrong question paper on Friday morning. “I was supposed to appear for my History exam at 7.30am. But when I opened my e-mail, I saw the Political Science paper instead. I wrote the exam and sent it. It was only when my friend told me of the glitch that I realised that they wrote their History paper, unlike me,” she said.

Rajesh Jha, who teaches Political Science at Rajdhani College, said, “This is mental torture for students and it is akin to playing with their career. They spent half their time answering a set of questions and then were told that they would have to answer another set of questions. What about the time that was lost? These papers must be cancelled.”

Officials from the varsity’s Computer Centre refused to comment saying the exam branch would be able to shed more light on the matter. Despite repeated calls and messages Dean (Exams) Vinay Gupta did not respond to the queries till Friday evening. DU Dean of Colleges Balaram Pani said, “Students can send their queries to the grievance cell and their case can be considered later if they faced an issue.”