No exams for over three lakh Delhi University undergraduates

NEW DELHI: Delhi University will not be conducting examinations for over 3 lakh first and second-year undergraduate and over 12,000 first-year postgraduate students.
Citing that pen-paper examinations couldn’t be conducted while following social distancing norms, the university said this was a one-time measure for students of regular colleges as well as School of Open Learning (SOL) and Non Collegiate Women’s Education Board (NCWEB).

The students would be evaluated on the basis of 50% marks for internal assessment and assignments and the rest on scores of the previous semesters. Teachers had suggested a similar calculation for final-year students, but the university, despite opposition, decided to conduct online open book examinations (OBE) from July 1.
DU, however, has not given any clarity about students enrolled in diploma and certificate courses, especially in the language departments.
In the notification issued on Thursday, dean (examination) Vinay Gupta said, “In view of Covid-19, the intermediate, semester and term-year students shall be graded with alternative mode of examination. Conducting exams in the conventional mode, ie pen and paper, is not feasible as per the existing social distancing norms.”
This is not the first time that students are being promoted on the basis of internal assessment. Gurpreet Singh Tuteja, mathematics teacher at Zakir Hussain College, said, “This has been done twice earlier. First, when the four-year undergraduate programme was implemented and, later, when it was removed. But at that time promotion was conditional. Attendance was compulsory and internal assessment had to be completed.”
Students having no previous semester performance would be completely graded on the basis of assignment-based evaluation. This pertains to first-year students of SOL under the semester system as exams couldn’t be held under Choice Based Credit System. As per the datesheet notified by SOL and NCWEB, these students would have to submit the internal assessment for both the semesters together. However, students who had failed in the previous semesters would have to appear for OBE.
Those with arrears marked as Essential Repeat and students who wish to improve their grades would be allowed as per the semester’s cycle — for odd semester in January and for even semester in May or June 2021.