In view of the prevailing situation of COVID-19 pandemic, Delhi University, after realising that the examinations cannot be conducted in conventional mode as per the existing government norms of maintaining social distancing and ensuring safety and health of students, decided to adopt open-book examinations (OBE) as a one-time measure. The OBEs for the final year students will start from July 1.
The varsity, after much deliberation, decided to adopt OBE as an alternative for the final semester, term or year students for the 2019-2020 academic session.
According to Delhi University, open-book exam don't entirely require online platform, rather only limited access to internet for downloading question papers and for uploading answer sheets after completion of the test, it said.
The examination branch shall e-mail the question papers to the college on each day of exam for every session 45 minutes prior to the commencement of the examination. Students shall answer the questions on plain A4 size paper.
The total duration of the open-book exams shall be of three hours of which two hours shall be given to students for answering the questions and an additional hour shall be utilised for downloading the question papers and uploading the scanned images of answer sheets.
To check the use of any unfair means during the examinations, each student shall be sign an undertaking by clicking a button on the portal along with scanned images of answer scripts, the university said.
For those who miss out
The university also said in case students miss out on taking the open-book exam (OBE), they will be given an opportunity to appear for pen and paper exams when the situation normalises.
Measures to facilitate OBE
The Delhi University on Saturday released a list of measures to be taken by various colleges for conducting online open book examinations for final year students from July 1. The measures include holding mock tests for students, notifying students through e-mail and other modes about the exams, and filling up of a pro forma by students stating that no unfair means are being adopted by them.
For students residing in Jammu and Kashmir and other such areas which lack the internet and hardware facility required for the OBE, the university has finalised to engage Common Service Centres (CSC), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
The students will be allowed to use information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure resources available with the CSC academy for downloading and taking printout of question papers, scanning and uploading answer sheets on the portal, the varsity said.
Opposition to OBE
The Delhi High Court has on Saturday sought response of the Delhi University on a plea challenging its decision to conduct online open book exams for final-year students of undergraduate and postgraduate courses from July 1 in view of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Justice Jayant Nath issued notice to the university asking it to file a response to the plea by three students, belonging to economically weaker sections of the society, who have contended that this form of examination was beneficial only for those well off.
The petitioner-students have contended that the "well-off students" would have the support of "intelligent parents, friends, gadgets and search engines" during exams, whereas their poor counterparts would not have access to any of these.
The petitioners also claimed that there was no way to find out who was cheating when open book online exams are held. Their petition further said that lack of proper internet connectivity and electricity would affect the performance of the poor students hailing from rural areas.
Before this, the teachers' associations and various students' bodies have also expresses their opposition towards the idea.
Eighty-five per cent of Delhi University`students, who participated in a survey-cum-referendum conducted by the Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA), have voted against the administration's decision of holding online open book exams.
DUTA has been saying that the OBE is a faulty method of examination as it discriminates against those without access to books, notes and online resources, encourages malpractice and penalises honest students. Further, it does not take care of the special needs of many students, especially the differently-abled ones, DUTA said.
The teachers' association demanded that the university explores alternatives, which do not disfavour a large section of students or promote dishonesty.
(With PTI Inputs)
