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Petition against online exams in DU,High Court seeks response.

A petition was filed in the Delhi High Court by three students of University of Delhi against its decision to conduct online open exams.

      University of Delhi had issued a notification on 14th May 2020 to conduct Open Book Examination for the final year students of UnderGraduate and Postgraduate Programmes from July 1 2020.The University has taken the decision to conduct open book examination due to the Corona Virus Outbreak and the Lockdown.

The petitioners are the final year Students of various colleges in Delhi University who have less access to all facilities.The petition was filed via Advocates, J P Sengh and Ayushi Chugh.They also pointed out that open exams increases the chances of cheatings as well.They also contended that Students who are  deprived of fast internet connectivity and Electricity supply will be affected and hence proper attending of exams too.

       The matter and hearing has been listed urgent as the University had already asked the departments to submit question papers by June 1 2020.

       The petitioner contends that through the open online exams,the students will be violated of their right to Equality.This is because each student has different access to the Internet and all other facilities.

The petitioner also argues that there is no means to Surveil the students during exams.Students can easily cheat using other search engines or others which destroys the basic objective of conducting exams.The students are also left without the study materials and books because of the sudden lockdown announced in the country.

     A similar situation like this had happened in the Central University of Haryana where the Vice Chancellor R C Kuhad  has decided not to conduct open book examinations.The petitioners illustrated this decision too.

     Petitioners contended that lack of experience in conducting the Open Book Examination (OBE)  is also a challenging matter.Petitioner students who belong to poor sections of the society held that this type of examination is only beneficial to higher strata of society.

      After considering the matter,Honourable Justice Jayanth Nath of Delhi Highcourt had issued a notice to the Delhi University seeking response to the petition filed by three students of different Colleges in the Delhi University.

The petitioner students, Abhishek, Sharanjeet Kumar and Deepak also placed an alternative and suggested that the final year students may be promoted based on the average marks of previous years and Internal marks of Current academic year.The petitioner students are the students of Political Science Honors Kirori Mal College, Hindi Honors  Aryabhatta College and BA Programme in School of Open Learning.

The Court will hear this matter next on June 18 2020.

by Ayisha Riswana