Students Continue To Face Technical Glitches In Delhi University's Online OBE

Even as UGC continues to support its decision on final year exams, Delhi University students face technical challenges in Delhi University's Open Book Exams (OBE). While some students are facing issues with uploading answer sheets others have complained about wrong answer sheets.

Photo/PTI

New Delhi: The Univesity Grants Commission (UGC) has continued to maintain that it will not change its decision about final year university exams. The Academic body had issued guidelines on July 6 that made it mandatory for universities to conduct final year exams, even though students are apprehensive about it. The UGC said that universities and colleges can use- online, offline, or a combination of both for conducting the exams. The Delhi University has recently started its Open Book Exams (OBE) after the Delhi High Court gave its approval. But students continue to face technical issues with the OBE. According to a report by PTI, students of the School of Open Learning said that question papers from a different subject were uploaded on the portal on the day of the exam. The college informed them to attempt the question paper for the subject they opted for. "I had my Hindi exam today according to the date-sheet. When I opened the portal for downloading my question paper, I found that two question papers were uploaded -- one of Hindi and another of the paper scheduled for August 13. I sent emails to the SOL but there was no response. I consulted a professor who advised me to attempt the paper scheduled for today," said Zubair Khan, a student of School of Open Learning (SOL) in the report. Similarly, final year students of BA (Honours) Political Science students have said that mock paper was uploaded, which they realized later. The correct question paper was uploaded half an hour later, many students did not see the second upload until they logged back in to upload their answer scripts. In a PTI report a student requesting anonymity shared the experience, “I received a question paper on mail which I attempted ‪from 11:30 am and was able to mail the same to ‪obescript@exam.du.ac.in by ‪3:32 pm. I did not check my phone during the entire time, as I was writing my paper. Around 3:40 pm through messages on the formal class group I realised that the paper I attempted was not the one and another paper was uploaded on the website at around 12 pm, of which I was not aware.” The Delhi University’s Dean of Colleges that students were given additional time to finish their paper. As for the students who attended the wrong question paper, they will get another chance to attempt their paper the Grievance Committee said. Some students have also faced issues with uploading the answer sheets. "It was 11.28 am by the time I finished creating PDF files (of my answer sheets). I tried to upload them but they didn't get uploaded. I have mailed them to the designated ID but do not know whether they will be accepted," said Deepak Gupta in the report. Such issues raise questions about the decision by the UGC to go ahead with exams for final year students. On Friday, the Supreme Court had adjourned the hearing of the petitions challenging the UGC's latest guidelines regarding final year University exams to August 18. According to a report by Bar and Bench, during the hearing on Friday, questions were raised about the impact of UGC's decision on the health of the students. the problems of transportation and the feasibility of the exams since many students have gone back to their homes due to the pandemic were also raised.