HC directs DU to conduct physical exams by Sept 14
new delhi: Marred by numerous technical glitches, several instances of mismanagements and wrong question papers in the first week of the online open-book exams (OBEs), the Delhi University was on Monday directed by the high court here to ensure that physical examinations for students who fail appear in the OBEs be conducted by September 14.
A bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Subramonium Prasad also directed the Ministry of Human Resource Development to submit an affidavit detailing the modalities of how students under the Persons with Disabilities (PwD) category will be transported to exam centres for the physical exams.
In Monday's hearing, the DU told the court that on the first day of the examination on August 10, about 36,000 students of the registered 38,000 had appeared for the exam and a little of over 33,000 had managed to upload their answer scripts on the portal.
Meanwhile, after a week of the OBEs riddled with difficulties for the students, teachers of the varsity are facing a unique conundrum as to how and when to begin evaluating the answer sheets, even as the administration issued a bare list of instructions on Monday.
Saying that the evaluation process would start "soon" the notice from Dean of Examinations, Vinay Gupta said, "The scanned images/photos of the answer scripts as uploaded by the students on the portal or submitted through e-mail shall be evaluated in digital/electronic mode by the respective subject teachers."
Teachers have been asked to make necessary arrangements, especially for those who wish to do the evaluation at the college itself.
Speaking to Millennium Post, Abha Dev, treasurer of DU Teachers' University (DUTA) said that there are going to be a number of hurdles for teachers while checking the answer sheet. "We are going to have a harrowing time in collecting the answer sheet as students have submitted their answer sheets multiple times," she said.
Furthermore, an English professor at the varsity said, "It is still half baked, we hope more will come in the coming days."
Teachers have also pointed out the issue of poorly scanned images as a major issue. Professor Saroj who teaches Political Theory at DU said that minor issues like camera quality will create a harrowing experience. "It is going to be quite a mess. The sequence during exams is well maintained, but this time with each picture uploaded differently, the sequence itself is going to be a big headache," he said.
He also said that the confidentiality between students and teachers was breached this time as the former called them for help many a time. "With so many technical glitches, the students approached teachers for help, breaking the confidentiality, which DU is very proud of," he added.
Meanwhile, Dev said that both students and teachers have exhausted their limitations with the problems. DU administration did not respond to questions on when they plan to release the evaluation instructions to the teachers.
