High Court asks UGC if MCQs, assignments based exams available for final year students

On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court asked University Grants Commission (UGC) to clarify whether the options of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), assignments and presentation based examinations are available for the final year students.

A bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh listed the matter for further hearing on Friday after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought time to take instructions on whether assignment based exams are contemplated in the UGC guidelines.

The court also observed that that various universities in the country had opted for alternative mode for conducting examination so that students did not face any inconveniences amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The High Court also pointed out a different mode of examination pointed by UGC's April guidelines, which can be held by a college.

During the hearing, the High Court observed that it is completely impractical to have a timed online examination. "We live in the heart of Delhi and there was no electricity or connectivity for hours due to the rain," the bench said.

The court also took note of a survey report filed by an intervenor in the matter which said that most of the students are against timed online examination.

Senior advocate Sachin Datta, who was arguing for Delhi University, told the court that students do not need internet continuously as they just need it to download and upload. He also said that the varsity is working day and night and there is no other way.

However, the High Court expressed unhappiness with his response and said that there are more than 200 universities and some of them have finished the examination.

"Imagine the number of writ petitions that are going to come here due to a number of reasons after Open Book Examination in August. DU will be struggling with it for years. I think the administration has collapsed and students are suffering," the bench said.

The court also noted that as per exams guidelines, students require minimum 4G connectivity, and remarked with a question that how much is the 4G penetration in our country.

The petitioners' counsel told the court that many colleges have opted for creative mode of examination including MCQs, etc, and added that traditional mode of exams is very time consuming and Open Book Exams (OBE) is prima facie troublesome.

The court was hearing a petition filed by several students including one Anupam through advocates Akash Sinha, Shubham Saket, Indrajeet Singh and Gaurav Prakash Shah, seeking quashing and withdrawal of the notifications dated May 14, May 30 and June 27, in respect of undergraduate and postgraduate students, including students of the School of Open Learning and Non-Collegiate Women Education Board.

The petition also sought to direct the Delhi University to evaluate the final year students based on the previous years' or semesters' results in the same manner as the respondent University has planned to promote the first and second-year students.

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