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Conducting physical exams amid pandemic a challenge: DU
The university had proposed holding physical examinations for students, who could not take the Open Book Exams (OBE) online and those who want to better their performance despite taking them, from September 20.
A day after the Delhi High Court directed the Delhi University (DU) to conduct physical exams for final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students from September 14, the university administration, teachers and students have raised concerns over its feasibility amid the Coronavirus disease (Covid-9) pandemic.
The university had proposed holding physical examinations for students, who could not take the Open Book Exams (OBE) online and those who want to better their performance despite taking them, from September 20. But a bench comprising justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad said the timeline was “quite unreasonable” and asked DU to advance the date.
This comes days after the Union home ministry, in an affidavit in the Supreme Court, said that colleges could reopen to conduct final-year examinations.
While ensuring precautionary measures such as social distancing while conducting the physical examination is a key concern for authorities, teachers say they will not have much time to complete the evaluation and declare the results for the ongoing online exams. The examination began on August 10 and will continue till August 31.
A lot of students had left for their hometowns before the nationwide lockdown was announced. Travelling back to Delhi to take the examination, they say, will not only put their lives at risk but also add to the financial burden.
DU’s Dean of Colleges Balaram Pani said conducting exams while ensuring safety precautions during the pandemic would be a challenge. “State universities can conduct offline exams without challenges because their students live locally, unlike central universities, where students from all across the country study. Candidates from far-flung areas will face difficulties in coming to Delhi. Hostel accommodation will be risky due to Covid-19 restrictions. Students, especially those from economically weaker sections, might face difficulties in making these arrangements. Besides, students might be asked to quarantine; that will be another challenge,” he said.
Principals across colleges said they will have to make elaborate arrangements to conduct physical exams. The acting principal of Miranda House Bijayalaxmi Nanda said, “We have to prepare because multiple things have to be done. There must be uniform protocols regarding health and safety because they are of paramount importance. If thousands of students come to the campus for offline exams, arrangements for social distancing and sanitisation and other things have to be made. If outstation students return, hostel arrangements have to be made. Limited resources have to be utilised, which will be challenging. Classes and evaluation are going on simultaneously.”
Several principals said that conducting physical exams in October would have been better since DU’s admission process begins in September. Manoj Sinha, the secretary of Delhi University Principal’s Association and the principal of Aryabhatta College, said, “The date doesn’t seem feasible since there isn’t enough time to prepare for offline exams, given the Covid-19 scenario. The entire teaching staff will be busy evaluating OBE papers. We cannot compromise this because it would affect overall results. Starting physical exams will not be conducive to the functioning of the institutions at present, but we will do what the varsity administration decides.”
DU is presently conducting online exams in open-book format for 260,000 final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students, as a one-time measure given the Covid-19 pandemic.
Several faculty members raised concerns over the comparison of students who are now appearing for the OBE to those who will appear for the offline exams in September. Rajesh Jha, a member of DU’s executive council (EC), said, “The problem is how to put the two sets of students in the same bracket. It is not scientific and against the basics of standardised examinations. The uniformity of yardstick is a basic tenet of examinations.”
Most faculty members said completing the evaluation process of the ongoing OBE would not be possible before September 14. Pankaj Garg, an associate professor at Rajdhani College, said, “It’s not possible to declare results before September 14. All the major exams will be held by August 19 and miscellaneous exams will continue till August 31. How will students decide to appear in the second phase of examination before their results are announced?”
Students also raised concerns about their safety during the prevailing situation. Amal Simon, a final-year BSc Hons (Physics) student at Ramjas College, said he and most of his friends are trying to write online exams to avoid travelling for offline exams. Simon, a resident of Kerala’s Palakkad, said, “We are visiting cyber cafes or friends’ places to write exams; we just want to get this over with. We can’t risk our lives by travelling to Delhi at a time when cases are increasing day by day.”
Ram Govind, a final-year student of Rajdhani College, who lives in a village near Allahabad, said, “Even if train services resume and we manage to reach Delhi, where we will live? We had to let go of our rented accommodation when we returned to our hometown to save rent. Besides, our families won’t allow many of us to travel back due to the Covid-19 situation.”
Many visually impaired students said that it would not be possible for them to travel to Delhi for exams amid the pandemic. Ramjatan Yadav, a visually impaired student from Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur, said, “Both decisions of conducting online and physical exams amid the pandemic are not inclusive and students like us were not kept in mind while making these decisions. How will we even travel and manage to stay without families in times like these?”
