Teachers apprehensive of DU’s plan to conduct exams online

NEW DELHI: While the Delhi University is mulling the introduction of an online system to conduct semester exams amid the nationwide lockdown, teachers, members of academic council have started to speak up against the probable plan.

Rajesh Jha, a member of Executive Council, has raised concerns over the procedure adopted to decide the methods of conducting exams, saying the top brass has been bypassing the compulsory process of taking a decision through statutory bodies such as the Academic Council (AC) and Executive Council (EC). “This is not only imprudent on the part of DU officials but also beyond their jurisdiction, as they are trying to bypass the statutory bodies such as the AC and EC which are empowered to take decisions and resolve the examination matters,” said a statement by Rajesh Jha and J L Gupta of Academics for Action and Development (AAD).

They said the move was an attempt to influence the two task force committees of UGC and MHRD. Both committees have been tasked to recommend measures related to annual exams, academic schedule and other important aspects for universities in India keeping in view the lockdown.

The two claimed that roping in DUCC to conduct exams was an uphill task. “It is amazing that the DUCC could not hold the Delhi University Entrance Test (DUET) catering to a limited number of students and had to outsource the work to the National Testing Agency (NTA). On the other hand, suddenly the DUCC becomes confident to hold the online examinations of all undergraduate and post-graduate students,” AAD said in a statement.

Methods questioned
Rajesh Jha, a member of Executive Council, said the top brass was bypassing the process of taking a decision through the Academic and Executive Councils

With agency inputs