In recent days, dozens of Delhi University students have been protesting off campus, demanding ‘Open Book Examination’ online for the ‘even’ semester. The protest that broke out on Monday has spread to several students detained by police and many are on hunger strike. Here is a timeline leading to the protest.
DU reopens this year February – March 2022 (DU Opens Up)
After a long wait, the varsity reopened its doors to students in mid-February this year. After this, the DU board decided to conduct the exams for odd semester students in OBE format, given the sudden shift from online to offline. The exams were held in March and April.
What led to the protests?
For the even-semester students, the varsity had decided to go offline, or with pen-and-paper based exams to be held in May and June. This led to protests from students demanding that their exams be conducted in OBE format as well. Even semester students claim that the varsity forces them to take exams offline, despite the fact that about 70 percent of their syllabus was completed online.
After the government announced its plans for physical exams, students began protesting the decision, setting out their demands in multiple memorandums. On Monday, April 5, about 1,000 protesters arrived at the Faculty of Arts and demanded that the varsity change its decision.
Many students were arrested during the protest, but were later released. Now the students have decided to go on hunger strike to make their demand for OBE more widely known.
DU releases relaxation
To address the concerns of the students, the DU has released a notice announcing easing for candidates who physically appear for the exam. According to the guidelines stated in the notice, students will be given an additional 30 minutes to write the exam as a “special one-time measure”.
In addition, the students are given extra options in questions. The varsity has also claimed that it will conduct a phase 2 of the exam for students who have completed the exam form but are unable to appear for “reasonable reasons”. The deadline for submitting the exam form, as determined by the university, is April 15.
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