DU Academic, Executive Council Ask VC to Scrap Open Book Exams

According to a survey conducted by the DU Teachers Association, around 85% students are against the conduct of OBEs.

Delhi University Final Semester Exams 2020

(Photo Courtesy: nirf.org)

Twenty-five academic and executive council members of Delhi University have written a formal letter to the university vice chancellor Yogesh Tyagi on Thursday, 25 June, requesting him to scrap the online open book exams.

The letters come in the wake of Union HRD Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal "Nishank" who asked the university to revisit the guidelines regarding semester exams and the new academic calendar.

Around 85 percent students in the University of Delhi (DU) are against the proposed open book examination (OBE) for final year students, reveals a survey of 51,000 university students conducted by the Delhi University Teachers Association.

According to the DUTA, under the OBE format, students of the final year will be sent a set of four to six questions through an online medium. They will then have to upload handwritten answers to these questions within three hours, during which they can refer to books and other study material.

However, multiple revelations in the survey suggest that conducting OBE may not a feasible move, as has been repeatedly pointed out by DUTA.

The university recently also opened their admission registration portal to all courses and received over 25,000 applications in the first six hours. Majority of the applications – 19,523 – were for the undergraduate courses, followed by 5,889 postgraduate applications and 457 PhD applications

The admission process for 2020 will be completely online for all courses at the university. Applicants will only be required to come to the university for verification documents at the end of the process if specified by the university or college.