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DU Open Book Exam: Thousands of students did not take online exams in first five days
According to the data, at least 62,852 students, including those enrolled with SoL and the Non-Collegiate Women’s Education Board (NCWEB), were supposed to appear in the exams, according to the schedule for August 10. Of them, while 54,619 marked their attendance for the exam on the day, only 48,577 attempted the test on the university portal.
A large number of Delhi University’s undergraduate and postgraduate students did not appear for the ongoing online open-book exams (OBE) on the varsity’s portal during the first five days, shows data submitted in the Delhi high court on Monday. A majority of the absentees are from the School of Open Learning (SoL). However, DU officials said this was because several students had received and submitted tests over email, which these numbers did not reflect.
According to the data, at least 62,852 students, including those enrolled with SoL and the Non-Collegiate Women’s Education Board (NCWEB), were supposed to appear in the exams, according to the schedule for August 10. Of them, while 54,619 marked their attendance for the exam on the day, only 48,577 attempted the test on the university portal.
In effect, more than 13% students were absent for the exam on the day.
Similarly, 132,169 students were expected to appear for the August 11 exams. Of them, 98,907 registered for the exam, while 82,429 attempted the papers, which means more than one-fourth of students did not attempt the test on the university portal.
Despite opposition from students and teachers, DU has begun conducting online exams in the open-book mode for 260,000 final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students, as a one-time measure in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. The exams began on August 10, and will be on till August 31.
While hearing multiple petitions filed by students against the exams on August 5, the high court had asked the University to submit preliminary data of OBE exam attendance.
Only a few exams were scheduled for August 12 in view of Janmashtami, and while 380 of 404 expected students had registered, only 49 attempted the exam.
The data submitted by the University on Monday showed that 188,448 students were supposed to appear in the online exams on August 13. Of these, 147,045 registered and 22% did not appear in the exam that day. On August 14, 41% of 257,914 students, who had exams scheduled that day, did not give the test on the university portal.
Explaining the reason behind the difference between the number of students registering and the number of students attempting the exams, DU dean of colleges Balaram Pani said, “Many students have got their question papers over emails from their respective colleges and departments, which is why the university portal is not reflecting the information. We are yet to collect the information of such students from the colleges and departments. We are also in the process of collecting the information on the number of students who had submitted their answer scripts via emails.”
Pani, who is also the director of SoL, said, “Many students enrolled with distance education programmes in DU are either working or are from very poor families and unable to appear in online exams. But the university will give all these students another chance.”
Faculty members raised concerns over the wide gaps between the number of students expected, registered and appeared. Rajesh Jha, a member of the University’s executive council (EC) and an assistant professor at Rajdhani College, said, “The data shared by the University clearly shows that the online exams are not inclusive in nature. We cannot adopt a system in which even if one student is left behind. It’s even more pressing that the majority of these students who did not appear are from SoL. Most students enrolled in SoL are from the marginalised sections and they do not have access to devices and internet facilities. Who knows when things will get better and these students will be able to appear in exams?”
