Delhi HC says DU students can submit answers via university portal or email it, but cannot re-take offline exams later

The Delhi High Court was hearing a petition against the university's decision to conduct online Open Book Examinations, in the wake of the pandemic
Delhi University
Delhi University

The Delhi High Court has instructed the University of Delhi (DU) to inform all its students that they can submit the answer sheets through the university portal and via email. This information will have to reach all the students by Thursday evening, the judge instructed. The university, until now has not sent emails about it to all its students, noted DU counsel Mohinder Rupal.

The online Open Book Examinations are scheduled to begin from August 10 and the court was hearing a petition against it, stating that it is discriminatory against disabled students or People With Disabilities (PwD). The matter will be next heard on August 17, a week after the exams begin.

Representing the university, senior advocate Sachin Datta said that offline exams will be conducted by September and that DU will share the timeline after the commencement of the OBE. "If a student submits the answer script either through the portal or email then they will not be allowed to appear for offline exams," Justice Hima Kohli noted.

She also noted that "a comparison between the participation and performance data of the first and second mock tests show that students are not prepared for OBE." While 76,000 students attempted the mock OBE in the first phase, only 23,000 attempted the second. This includes 129 students with disabilities.

The university is also instructed to arrange scribes for students who require them and provide at least one prescribed book to every student, after Senior Advocate S K Rungta, who represents the National Federation of the Blind stated, "Students need to be prescribed reading material to sit for the exam". The university said that it will provide provisional admissions even if results aren't out.

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