For pol science exam, SOL students receive history question paper

New Delhi: Students from the School of Open Learning (SOL) of the Delhi University on Sunday received the history question paper instead of the political science one, in one of the many instances of mismanagement that has marred the varsity's insistence to conduct the final year examinations for undergraduate students through the online open-book (OBEs) mode.

The final year students of SOL were scheduled to appear for their political science paper on Sunday and said they faced trouble logging into the portal as well, a complaint that has in the one week since the exams started, become common.

"At about 8 am, I tried to open the link but was not able to get access. After minutes of refreshing it, when I was able to open the link, I was shocked to find out that we had received the history paper, instead of the political science paper," Gaurabh, an IT professional, who is pursuing Political Science Honours through SOL, said.

He added that the correct question paper was uploaded around one and a half hours later and under a different course header. "Ironically, it was not uploaded under our course, but at the end under a different course," he said.

Many students faced a similar situation, adding they had to wait for about two hours to get access to the correct question paper. "I chose SOL because I am working side-by-side at an IT firm. Our exam date is also different, so we don't have to struggle. But when things like that come, it becomes difficult. I was just glad that it was a Sunday," Gaurabh added.

Ritika, another student who faced a similar situation said that even after refreshing the portal page she was getting the history question paper. "I called other people, who told me they were facing similar issues. We had faced technical glitches but this was surprising even for us. After about two hours of panic, I got a call from one friend who said our paper was uploaded at the end," she said.

The students from SOL, meanwhile are also facing issues with not having the correct or enough study material. This matter was widely discussed in the Delhi High Court, where the court had multiple times held the university responsible for providing study material and assistive devices to students under the Persons with Disabilities (PwD) category.

According to a notice by the DU, two books, primarily Ten Year or King's Champion, which are guidebooks have been banned during examinations. The decision has not gone down well with students who said that as it is, their study material is limited. "The study material provided to us is outdated and was not given to us on time either," Gaurabh added.

The grievances from students on Sunday came after thousands of students complained of numerous technical glitches on the first day of the OBEs. Many students said they were unable to upload the answer scripts through the portal and had to send it to their colleges through email.

However, even as teachers say they are yet to get clarity on evaluating the answer scripts and the varsity rudderless on the date of results, students have also been complaining of anxiety that they do not know whether their answer scripts have been accepted or not.

Just two days ago, students appearing for their political science paper had said that they had received the mock exam question paper for the exam and that the original paper was not made available until 20 minutes after the time of commencement.