Delhi HC Says Students Not Prepared For DU Open Book Exams; Defers Hearing To August 17

After reviewing the preparation of Delhi University's Open Book Examination (OBE) the Delhi High Court has said that students are not ‘thoroughly prepared' to participate in the OBE.

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New Delhi: Delhi University students are still waiting for clarity on the Open Book Examinations (OBE) as the hearing for the case regarding the examination has been deferred to August 17, 2020, by the Delhi High Court. According to a report by IANS, the court also raised questions about the preparations for the exams on the hearing on Wednesday. The Court said that it seems the students are not ‘thoroughly prepared" to participate in the OBE. "This is a clear indication that the final year students are not thoroughly prepared to participate in the online OBE that the University of Delhi has proposed to conduct," said a division bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad after comparing the data relating to the first and second phase of mock tests that were conducted by the varsity Students of Delhi University have been attempting mock tests from last month which was meant to help them accommodate to this unfamiliar mode of examination, the mock tests were far from being a success. Many complained of problems such as incorrect question papers, network issues, and problems with logging. Students who shifted to their hometown in the face of the pandemic also faced the problem of accessing study material. "I have been stuck in my hometown in Uttar Pradesh. I did not bring my study material here. It is such a big university and they did not even make efforts to make the study material available online or arrange something so that students could study. Several claims are being made about the success of online classes but many students were unable to avail their benefits," said a student in a report by PTI. According to the report, the data submitted in the Court revealed that as against 1,83,376 students who had registered to participate in the OBE in the first phase, 1,86,814 students had registered themselves in the second phase. However, the total number of the students who had logged in during the first phase was 93,185 whereas only 75,593 had logged in the second phase. The total number of papers attempted by the students in the first phase was 60,181 whereas, in the second phase, the total number of papers attempted was 51,176. The data also revealed that the total number of papers submitted in the first phase was 33,162 whereas, in the second phase, the total number of papers submitted was 23,693. A plea was also filed by Prateek Sharma, a physically disabled student, about the issues faced by PwD category students. "Even for the PWD (person with disability) category students and VH (visually handicapped) students, the data of the second phase of the mock test is no better than that of the first phase, if not worse," said the Bench in the report.