After the Delhi University announced the postponement of its final-year examinations, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has taken a U-turn in its stance in the OBE issue and now said that the DU administration 'must stop playing with the future of students' and must 'opt for assignment based evaluation'. The students' organisation had welcomed the MHA's decision to compulsorily conduct final-year exams saying that it is important for future endeavours.
But the ABVP assured that there has been no change in what they were fighting for. "There has been no change of stand. All memorandums of ABVP have asked for an evaluation of students and we have been suggesting various methods since the beginning. We had suggested assignment based, project-based, MCQ, in house exams in the first memorandum we gave to the university. However, when the university chose OBE, we worked to remove the obstacles faced by students while simultaneously asking for assignment based evaluation. Now when the university has postponed the exams again, they should rethink the mode of evaluation and adopt assignment based assessment only," said Sidharth Yadav, State Secretary, ABVP Delhi. "DU must explore and adopt methods of evaluation that are convenient for the students. The University must not enforce any such option which puts even a single student at a disadvantage. DU must complete its evaluation procedures at the earliest by assignments thereby letting students focus on their future," he added.
In a statement, the ABVP condemned the Delhi University administration for "its failure on multiple fronts including the evaluation and examination of final year students and for creating problems consistently for the students in the turbulent times brought upon us by the COVID-19 pandemic". "The DU Administration has consistently forced students to stay in examination mode, harassing them mentally with the uncertain circumstances created by the failure of the university's policies disrupting their future plans. Delhi University had in past deferred the examinations by 10 days owing to its incomplete preparations and it has been forced to postpone the examinations again due to the insufficient preparations and glaring drawbacks in the website created for the Open Book Examinations and adopted as the mode of evaluation," said the statement.
The administration has not been available for discussion with the students or the union, said Rahul Chaudhary, National Media Convener, ABVP. "The administration is adamant and is not open for discussions. Every college has come up with a feasible option — from JNU to NLIU Bhopal everyone is coming up with a customised method to evaluate — then why can't Delhi University," said Rahul. "There should be some kind of assessment. It's always better than getting promoted. A promotion always hampers the career graph of a student," he added.
The University Administration has aggravated the problems faced by those students who have been placed as of now, or those who have to go for further studies by further extension of examination dates said the ABVP and demanded that this situation "brought upon by the sheer incompetence of the Delhi University Administration must be tackled by deliberating upon and implementing options like assignment based evaluation and this environment of uncertainty be brought to an end". "Other reputed universities like JNU, Jamia and Ambedkar University are proceeding towards the successful evaluation of students through similar modes while the sheer incompetence of Delhi University Administration has jeopardised the future of our students," read the statement.
