DU students say they lack resources for online exams
nNEW DELHI: Twenty-year-old Sachin Pathak, a student of Delhi University, is worried about his final-year exams in July. Reason? His phone’s keypad is not working. And the phone is to be shared with his sibling—another finalyear student of DU.
“I don’t even have a touchscreen phone. How is it possible for me to finish my paper with such slow Internet and then look for a place where I can scan and upload it within an hour?” Pathak said.
Hundreds of DU students like Pathak posted their concerns on social media on Friday using the hashtag #Duagainstonlineexams which had over 47,400 tweets till Friday evening. The “Twitter storm” comes a day after DU announced that it may conduct an open-book online examination for final-year students if the Covid-19 situation prevented it from holding a regular pen-and-paper examination. Using memes and video messages, students highlighted their concerns about the online open-book examination, including poor Internet connectivity, lack of access to devices, inability to download reading material, risk of impersonation, and lack of familiarity with the open-book examination mode.
While the notification released on Thursday refers to final-year students, first- and second-year students are also anxious. Harsh Suri, a resident of Kashmir and a first-year student in Hindu College, said, “We’re stressed because there is no clarity yet. Students from Jammu and Kashmir are neither able to attend their online classes nor download reading material on the 2G network. How are we supposed to give our exams? Even to tweet against the online exam took me 20 minutes.”
Amal K Simon, another finalyear student and a resident of Kerala, said, “We don’t have reading material at home, everything is in Delhi. Besides, we have never appeared for an open-book test before. So many of my friends from remote areas run the risk of having their job offers rescinded because they will be unable to appear for these exams.”
The Vice-chancellor was unavailable for comment.
Meanwhile, the varsity’s Covid-19 task force constituted to look into academic matters during the pandemic, on Friday, wrote to all principals asking them to compile e-resources to help students. “We have asked principals to identify and share e-resources which can be sent to students ,” Payal Mago, a member of the task force, said.
nNEW DELHI: The South Delhi district administration on Friday wrote to the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), raising issues faced by its students stranded in the NCR due to the Covid-19 lockdown. The district administration has suggested the university allow these students back into the campus taking all precautions.
In a letter addressed to JNU vice-chancellor Jagadesh Kumar and registrar Pramod Kumar, sub-divisional magistrate (Mehrauli) office wrote, “It’s to inform that several emails have been received in this office from the students of JNU regarding denied of entry into the campus due to fear of COVID-19 infection. Students have also informed that they are facing difficulties as their money have exhausted and requested their entry into the campus to stay in their respective allotted hostels [sic].”
“JNU may approach the district surveillance officer for medical screening of the students [sic],” the letter added.
The university had, on March 19, asked the students to vacate their hostels citing the lockdown announced by the Delhi government. Following this, several students had left for their homes or their friends’ or relative’s places. The remaining students were allowed to stay back in hostels after the nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24 and public transport facilities were suspended. The university, however, had prohibited the entry and exit of students from the campus citing safety measures.
South Delhi district magistrate BM Mishra said that considering the hardships of stranded students, his office has suggested the JNU administration allow them entry to the campus.
Both the JNU vice-chancellor and registrar did not respond to calls and texts for comment. A senior official, who wished not to be named, said, “The university will discuss this and will soon make a decision keeping in mind the safety and security of the JNU community.”
STUDENTS HIGHLIGHTED THEIR CONCERNS SUCH AS POOR INTERNET CONNECTIVITY, LACK OF ACCESS TO DEVICES AND READING MATERIAL