On Friday, more than 300 final year LL.B students of Faculty of Law, University of Delhi sent a representation to the Bar Council of India and have requested for the cancellation of their pending semester exams and to direct the University to adopt an Assignment Based Evaluation (ABE) instead.
They have appealed that the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic had devastated people of all age groups, across income classes and regions. They are passing through trauma of loosing loved ones, some are helping and serving their ailing kins and relatives, some are volunteering fpr Covid Relief Work.
In light of above, they sought reconsideration of the 31-05- 2021 notification of Faculty of Law wherein exams have been announced in at least 10 papers which are to be held within a period of 1.5 months.
It has further been noted that even as the BCI Press Release dated 01-11- 2020, allowed universities to conduct exams for intermediate semester students either by offline or online mode, was quashed by the Karnataka High Court.
They stated that Faculty of Law took no decision till the end of March 2021 when it finally issued a notice stating that final semester exams would be conducted first, followed by the intermediate 4th semester exams.
It has been expressed that the University know that this would amount to some students having to give up to 15 examinations within a short duration. They have shown displeasure over the repitition of the previous pattern of exams even as the second wave hit the country and everyone has to deal with its deadliness.
Addditionally it has been mentioned that due to the shift to online teaching, classes were not held regularly, and no subsequent remedial or revision classes were held for students who couldn't manage access to online classes or resources during the lockdown.
They thus have submitted that ABE is a better method of evaluation and would also ensure that the results are declared quickly so as to minimize the impact on students who wish to pursue further studies or need the final result to accept job offers. Further, it would be feasible for those who are recovering from COVID and cannot sit at stretch for hours in order to appear in an examination. In this regard, reliance has been placed upon a notification issued by National Law University, Delhi, to aver that the practice won't violate any standards of law teaching as several law schools have also opted for this mode of evaluation.4
The students hope for a more sensitive approach to the plight of the students and therefore requested the BCI and the Members of the Expert Committee on LL.B Evaluations to aid and direct the University to conclude their evaluations on time via Assignment/Research Project mode.
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