The first phase of online open book examinations for final year students at Delhi University, which had faced severe criticism, finally took place on Monday with scores of students panicking and complaining about technical issues.
Palak*, a BSc Physical Science student at Maitreyi College and is from Rajasthan, who had set up a Wi-Fi connection at home for the exams, wasn’t able to upload her answer scripts on the university’s portal. “Electricity had also gone while I was taking the exam. So I was already anxious,” said Ms. Palak.
With two minutes left for the exam to end and her answer scripts not uploading, she uploaded it as pictures and mailed them to an email id provided by the university. Since the university had called for PDFs of the answer scripts, she had to send a second mail after the exam got over. With three more exams to go, Palak is worried about what she will do next time.
Same was the case with Deepak Kumar, a BA programme student from the School of Open Learning. He was unable to submit his answer sheet on time and had to mail it after the exam, but did not receive any confirmation of receipt.
Lack of time
Others complained about the lack of time to complete the paper. Ranjani Ghosh, a third year student, wrote to the university complaining about the lack of time given to write the exams and upload the answer scripts. Out of four hours, Ms. Ghosh argued that half the time went on uploading her answer scripts onto the portal, leaving very little time to answer the paper.
Students also complained about the question paper itself. Zubair Khan, a BA Political Science student from SOL, informed that he was given two papers to attempt. Hindi as well as ‘Delhi Medieval’ papers turned up on his portal even though the latter is scheduled for August 13. He downloaded that paper as well.
Students from the zoology and history departments complained about not being able to access their paper and unable to download it even though the exam had started according to the schedule. Many complained about having to send in their papers late and not receiving any confirmation.
(*name changed to protect identity)