Delhi HC allows online open book exams for final year DU students with fresh directions

Justice Prathiba M Singh said it has not gone into the legal arguments raised by petitioner students as to how the online OBE is arbitrary and discriminatory in nature.
Delhi University (File Photo)
Delhi University (File Photo)

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday passed a slew of directions relating to online Open Book Examination (OBE), which will be conducted by the Delhi University for final year undergraduate courses from August 10, to ensure fair opportunity for students keeping in view the technical problems.

The court said it is mindful that enormous preparations have been undertaken by students for giving the online OBE and now it is concerned about the manner in which the process can be further streamlined.

Justice Prathiba M Singh said it has not gone into the legal arguments raised by petitioner students as to how the online OBE is arbitrary and discriminatory in nature owing to the directions passed by the division bench permitting DU to proceed with the online OBE.

The court passed the verdict on a plea by Anupam and others challenging the university's decision to hold online OBE, as per the UGC guidelines, for final year undergraduate courses which will be in long form exams.

DU is scheduled to hold the exams from August 10-31 and the students who will be left out of online OBE will be given an opportunity to appear in physical examinations, to be held sometime in September.

The court passed various directions to streamline the process, noting that there are various technological challenges and the evaluation is of 70-100 marks for each paper.

It directed that the question papers shall be made accessible for students on the university website and be sent on their email IDs.

It said regular students and those under the persons with disability (PWD) category be given three hours and five hours respectively to answer the question papers and one additional hour for scanning the answer sheets and uploading or emailing them.

The university was directed to send an auto-generated email informing the students that their answer sheets have been received.

"The central email id for uploading of answer sheets, that is, obescript@exam.du.ac. in, shall be publicised adequately," Justice Singh said in the 45-page judgment.

Common Service Centres (CSC) Academy, which runs the CSCs set up to provide services to students who do not have infrastructure to give OBE, shall notify all its centres the schedule of the exams by the end of the day so that they can provide assistance to students to the best extent possible, it said.

The court said students can send their grievances at grievanceexam2020@gmail.com and grievance@exam.du.ac. in, and the emails will be addressed and resolved by DU's grievance officers within 48 hours.

It also reconstituted the five-member grievance redressal committee under the aegis of retired Justice Prathiba Rani for dealing with all the grievances of students and said that the panel will function till OBE continues and the students' complaints need to be addressed within five days.

At the end of the OBE, a comprehensive report on the conduct of examinations shall be submitted by DU within four weeks, the court said and also asked the committee to place on record its report after conclusion of exams.

"The uploaded answer sheets of students shall also be simultaneously sent for evaluation to the respective teachers to ensure that declaration of results is not delayed in any manner," the court said.

The single-judge bench noted that in the last over one month, several lacunae have been pointed out in the online OBE process and various orders have been passed by it and the division bench on improvements.

However, repeatedly, DU has taken the stand that it is fully prepared to conduct the examinations.

"The challenges for students in the last six months have been of an extreme nature. Several students have been confronted with personal tragedies, including suffering from COVID-19 or their family members suffering from it. Several students had obtained jobs where they were to join after graduating," the court noted.

"A large number of media reports have also appeared wherein it is reported that students who had pre-placement offers have been unable to join due to non-conduct of the examinations," it said.

It noted some of the students who have come before this court had obtained admissions in foreign universities for the academic year 2020-21 but have been forced to forfeit their admissions or miss their deadlines and seek extensions.

The court said it's a fact that due to the lockdown imposed in March, very few classes were held during the entire semester and students had no access to hard copies of reading material and some have been able to avail the online material.

"It is under these extreme and extraordinary circumstances that the final semester students are giving their online OBE," it said.

DU relies on a Supreme Court judgment on AICTE which deals with the scope of interference by courts in education matters to argue that no interference is called for in the OBE examinations.

The case dealt with dilution of eligibility conditions for pursuing engineering courses.

The court rejected the contention saying the question of eligibility and the challenge to the online OBE as raised herein are completely different issues and here it is wrestling with circumstances which are unprecedented.

"The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the non-availability of guidance of teachers for the students, lack of any exchange of views amongst peers due to absence from campuses, absence of classroom teaching in the entire semester, non-availability of hard copies of study material etc. are situations which were not contemplated in AICTE (supra)," it said.

Wont be able to take exams without scribes, assistive devices: Differently abled DU students

With the Delhi High Court's verdict, students said their anxiety levels have gone up with some differently abled students worried that they won't be able to take exams in the absence of scribes and assistive devices.

Students said the varsity should come out with clear guidelines on the conduct of the exams.

A final year student of Gargi College, who didnt wish to be identified, said it's now the onus of the varsity to resolve the issues that have risen during the mock tests and also give clarity on the rules.

"The court has said that students will be given an extra hour to upload answer sheets. We were already being two hours and an extra hour for uploading answers. Will we be given three hours or four hours now?" she asked.

Rajesh Jha, Executive Council member of the varsity said the students had to approach the judiciary when the university administration "became autocratic and despotic".

The teachers and students have been opposing the online open book exams (OBE) and the judgement has vindicated their grievances to a large extent, he said.

"Now there is an urgent need to take a relook at online OBE in the light of disastrous mock tests. Academic Council and Executive Council must be convened immediately," he said.

Some specially abled students said the move means they might not be able to take exams in the absence of scribes and assistive devices.

Deepak Gupta, a visually impaired student from Rohtas in Bihar, said he won't be able to appear for the exams since he does not have clarity on whether the nearest Computer Service Centre is ready to facilitate them.

With no access to the internet, Gupta said the high court's decision has led to an increase in anxiety levels among students like him.

"Many of my friends won't be able to take exams and we do not have clarity on facility of scribes and even access to study material. In this scenario, how will we appear for the exams?" Another visually impaired student, Mohit Kumar Pandey, said the varsity has not made available a facility for scribes and there is no access to study material.

Pandey, a student of St Stephen's College, said he could not take the mock tests since he didn't have a scribe and expressed inability to appear for the open book exams.

He also raised concerns about the coronavirus situation and said it does not seem likely that the varsity will be able to hold offline exams even in September.

Alok Yadav, a differently abled final year student of Ramjas College, said the varsity is being biased and is only looking at those students who have access to internet and technology.

"I am in a small village in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh. For attending a phone call, I have to go the terrace since there is no network. How will I take the exam in such a situation?" he asked.

"When I left Delhi during the time of lockdown in a hurry, my assistive devices and study material were left behind. I do not have a scribe or the assistive devices for studying. We also have to prepare for entrance exams and our admission for Masters. It seems unlikely that our issues will be resolved in the next two days."

The Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) said any form of online/blended exam is "discriminatory, unjust and lacks sanctity".

"Students without means and deprived of online teaching and study materials will be penalized. Students who are honest and do not resort to immoral practices will be penalized too. An examination, after all, ranks students," it said in a statement.

An option for offline exam at a later date does not alter the "discriminatory, unjust and immoral character" of the OBE, it added.

"It is beyond our comprehension that why a more credible and uniform system of evaluation could not be adopted at a time when students and their families are battling health and livelihood issues. We wish to tell our students that teachers will stand with them," the statement said.

DUTA also said an offline examination appears to be infeasible in the near future.

"It threatens safety of students, who are spread across the country, and discriminates against those who could not access online academic interactions."

"The zealous manner in which the Government and the UGC are insisting on an examination knowing well that the offline mode is infeasible any time soon is a clear indication that as a precursor to the NEP 2020, they want to showcase an online examination," it added.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com