Is there finally an end in sight to the protest in Delhi University for Open Book Exams? Delhi University has released a notification providing some adjustments to its plan of conducting the even semester exams offline.
Ashish Lamba, Secretary of the DUSU and a member of the NSUI, had written to the Vice-Chancellor of the varsity, Yogesh Singh, claiming that he had received grievances from various students with regards to the offline exams. With a majority of the classes for the semester happening online, the letter said that the offline exams were burdening the students. Additionally, the shift to Delhi after the campus reopened also caused some students to miss their offline classes. He also went on to say that students of the Science stream had missed practical experience of a major chunk of the concepts, that were taught online. And then there was also the case of foreign students, who wouldn't be able to make it to the university due to visa issues.
The letter demanded a hybrid or blended mode of exams for such students. To add to that, there is another faction of DU students who are still fighting for a complete shift to OBE for exams this semester.
While there weren't many other student outfits backing these demands, including the left affiliated SFI, or even the ABVP, which had vehemently demanded OBE for the odd semesters, the Delhi University administration does seem to have taken cognisance of the issue and has, therefore, made a few allowances in its method of conducting the exam. For starters, it has said that the duration of the exam will be extended by 30 minutes. The syllabus has been reduced and the students will be given additional choices in the question paper. Importantly, those students who have applied for the exams but cannot write them in May for "justifiable reasons" will be given the opportunity to sit them in Phase II of the exams, to be conducted sometime in the next two months, according to sources in the university.
Also, departments have been directed to provide study material to students who need them and also update the website with the syllabus. A direction has also been given for mock tests, in addition to the internal assessment.
Science students have been assured that they will not be tested on concepts that have only been taught to them online, says an official. "We believe that the Dean of Examinations is also being considerate to the students in this matter. Micro-level solutions have to be drawn out in various departments in this regard. But overall, we are in agreement with the provisions made by the university. The High Court has also dismissed demands for OBE, so the university in this regard is doing its best to provide some relief to the students," says Lamba.
One faction of the student community, however, is not all that happy about the DU's stance on the matter. A protest was organised at the Arts Faculty at 12:00 pm today. Students also took to Twitter to raise a call for the protest and register their frustrations under the hashtags #OnlineExamForAllSemestersOfDU #OBEForAllSemestersInDU.
"We want OBE for all semesters of DU. We do not want additional 30 minutes or more extra choices between questions. Online Exams for Online Study. This is so unfair with us and their dirty politics to pressure by notice is bad #OnlineExamForAllSemestersOfDU #OBEforallSemestersInDU," wrote a DU student, Shashank Goacher on Twitter.
While the Congress-affiliated National Student Union of India (NSUI) had initially strongly opposing the upcoming in-person exams, the BJP-affiliated ABVP had not issued a 'for' or 'against' statement with regards to the pen-and-paper exams. The NSUI also rested their agitations after the notice by the DU on April 1. Communist Party of India (Marxist)-affiliated Students' Federation of India Delhi President Sumit Kataria said, "No left-affiliated students' outfit is supporting this demand for OBE."
On February 12, when the university finally gave in to the demands of the students to reopen the campus, it had announced that the Open Book Exams format, which was resorted to during the exams in June and November in 2021 due to the pandemic, will be followed for the odd semester exams in March and April as well. Additionally, the university had also made it clear that the physical mode of exams will return for the even semester tests in May.
