The Delhi University (DU) administration has decided to switch to the open book online examination mode from July 1 for final year students in case the Covid-19 pandemic doesn’t allow the university to hold exams via the conventional pen-and-paper mode by then.

The Delhi University (DU) administration has decided to switch to the open book online examination mode from July 1 for final year students in case the Covid-19 pandemic doesn’t allow the university to hold exams via the conventional pen-and-paper mode by then.

The decision has received flak from several teachers and students, who say that this cannot be an alternative to written exams in DU.

In a notification issued on Thursday, Dean of Examination Vinay Gupta said that the examination for final-year students of all undergraduate and postgraduate courses, including those registered in the School of Learning (SoL) and the Non-Collegiate Women Education Board (NCWEB), will be held from July 1.
“In case the situation doesn’t appear to be normal because of Covid-19 and to maintain social distancing, safety and health of the students become difficult, the University will adopt an alternative mode of examination i.e Open Book Examination (OBE) for final semester students of all undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and streams along with arrears previous semester/year. Students shall be allowed to attempt their examination from seating at home or any place as per the guidelines issued in this regard [sic],” the notification read.
 

The exams will be conducted from July 1 in three sessions per day including Sunday, the notification added. The university will release a separate schedule for first- and second-year students of undergraduate courses and first-year students of postgraduate courses.

In a detailed letter to all the principals of colleges and Deans of departments on Wednesday evening, the university’s examination branch asked them to set three question papers of each course based on the open book format and forward it to them by June 3. “Since it will be an open book examination, the question should be framed in a manner which would test the understanding and analytical skills of the students and there should be no minimum scope of verbatim copying from books and study material [sic],” the letter read.

During the two-hour exam, the students will be given one extra hour to download the question paper, scan the answer sheets and upload them. The question paper will have six questions; students will be asked to attempt four in two hours.
 

Both students and teachers are opposing the move. Rajesh Jha, a member of the DU’s executive council (EC), said that an online exam cannot be the alternative in a university like theirs. “By introducing the open-book format, things will get further complicated. Our students are already struggling to attend online classes due to logistical challenges. We can’t experiment with the future of our students. We should wait for things to get better and hold exams as usual, while taking all precautions,” he said.

The Delhi University Students’ Union said it would suggest alternative measures as well after wider consultation with all stakeholders.

Students said they were against online exams in any form. Unnimaya, the general secretary of the students’ union at Lady Shri Ram College for Women, said, “We surveyed 300 students of our college and 68% of them said they won’t be able to attend the exams if they were held online. Over 41% did not have access to a proper Internet connection and around 44% did not have access to laptops, computers or tablets.”
 

The DU unit of the students’ group All India Students Association (AISA) on Tuesday issued a survey report, according to which 74% of students had responded against the online exams.

A group of final-year students in the University has started an online petition on Thursday demanding the cancellation of their examination. “At a point in time when a lot of students do not have smartphones or laptops, we think that the online examination system shall be skewed in favour of those who have a room of their own, the privacy to write their examinations, and have continuous access to laptops/smartphones, electricity, and internet. We collectively believe that unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures and one such measure that we suggest vehemently is the cancellation of the exams for the final-year students,” the petition at change.org read.
Sachin Maheshwari, Dean of Faculty of Technology, said, “If open books exams are being proposed, we are not prepared to conduct them. Such exams are only feasible if classroom teaching has taken place.”
 

Teachers also raised concerns over the poor Internet connectivity in case of students living in remote areas. Pankaj Garg, an associate professor at Rajdhani College, said, “A number of our students come from interior villages. They do not have proper access to the Internet. The university should promote students based on their internal marks and last semester exams.”

A member of the university’s task force constituted to combat Covid-19 said, “The administration will have to take some extraordinary measures in this extraordinary situation. We cannot wait for a long time because we will have to start the admission process in August. Also, the number of students in DU is higher than any other university in Delhi. We can’t let them come to the campus and risk their safety.”

Calls and texts sent to Gupta and DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Tyagi went unanswered.
Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/du-might-adopt-open-book-online-exam-mode-from-july-1/story-H6OXTk4ndGYkTOiqfAQcMJ.html