The Delhi high court on Wednesday said all final-year undergraduate students, including those in the general category, who have registered for Delhi University’s (DU) open book examination (OBE) but cannot complete it, will have the option to physically appear for the exams later — even if they have downloaded the question paper but could not upload or e-mail the answer sheet for any reason.
A bench of justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad passed the order after DU counsel senior advocate Sachin Datta agreed to the court’s suggestion that considering the problems related to OBE, the general category should also be given an option to appear for the physical examination like the PWD category students.
Around 240,000 students are set to take the test through OBE on August 10.
The court, however, agreed with DU’s contention that if a student uploads or e-mails an answer sheet of any subject, then he or she will not be permitted to sit for the physical examination in that particular subject later on.
DU’s counsel said any student unable to take the OBE exam for any other reason will get a chance again when the university holds the physical test at a later date.
The court was hearing petitions filed by law student Prateek Sharma and the National Federation of Blind (NFB), seeking effective mechanisms for visually impaired and specially abled students for the exams.
On Wednesday, DU filed an affidavit in the court, stating that in the second set of mock tests, 186,814 students had registered, of whom 23,693 were able to complete the examination process. In the first phase, 183,376 students had registered, of whom 33,162 students completed the process.
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Seeing the outcome, the court noted that “data relating to the second phase of the mock test is more abysmal than the first phase”. It expressed displeasure at the dismal number appearing for the second mock tests.
“Even for the PWD category students and VH students, the data of the second phase is no better than that of the first phase, if not worse. This is a clear indication that final-year students are not thoroughly prepared to participate in the OBE on-line mode of examination that the university of Delhi has proposed to conduct,” the court said.
The bench directed the varsity to provide scribes, on request, to visually impaired students at common service centres (CSCs) for the online OBE for final-year undergraduate courses, if they have opted for one.
The court directed DU to finalise the results date. It also asked the university to give specify dates to hold physical examinations for those who could not take the online test.
The bench said the university should provide at least two reading material or text books of each paper to visually handicapped students and granted a week’s time to students to make the request to DU. It said DU will ensure no such student is deprived of a scribe if it has been informed in advance.
A member of the university’s examination branch, who wished not to be named, said, “The university from the beginning is saying that another chance will be given to students who are not able to appear in OBE remotely. The exams in the normal pen and paper mode will be conducted only after the declaration of the results of OBE exams.”
Courtesy: hindustan times
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