IP University playing with Mental and Physical Health of Law Students: Wants to conduct Offline Exams

COVID-19 and consequential Lockdown has thrown the whole World into a turmoil. No aspect of life has remained untouched. While the Nations are still struggling to save valuable Human lives, the Second Wave of COVID infections has seen an unprecedented spike.

India alone has lost more than 1,00,000 Lives. Globally we have lost 1.04 Million Lives and counting.

Like all other spheres Higher Education also took its toll as Colleges and Universities had to close down their normal Academic activities and classes. UGC has issued several directions so as to ensure that no Student gets exposed to the Virus from College Campuses.

Legal Education is governed by the Bar Council of India. BCI on its part issued detailed directives from time to time so that the Academic Year of Students is not lost while the safety of Students too is not compromised.

Clear Guidelines have been issued by the Bar Council of India on 27.05.2020 and 09.06.2020 titled ‘Guidelines for Online Examinations’ with regard to conduct of Examinations. It has been clearly stated that the Universities shall conduct the previous end semester examinations within a month of reopening of the colleges.

It must also be noted that the subject of the Guidelines issued by BCI specifically mandate that “Online Examinations” may be conducted post opening of Colleges and Law Schools. Evidently the Guidelines do not explicitly give an option to the Universities to conduct “Offline Examinations” for students.

Violation of BCI Guidelines by GGSIP University

Neither the IP University’s main campus (USLLS) nor any of the affiliated colleges and institutes have reopened considering the current COVID related lockdown and Govt of India directives.

However, despite the above clear BCI Directives, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) has recently issued two notifications which have created huge unrest amongst its law students. GGSIPU issued the first notice on 30^th September 2020 which stated that online internal exams for the current semester would be conducted between 12^th October 2020-16^th October 2020.

Moreover, on the same day the GGSIPU issued the second notice, announcing that the offline external(final) exams for the previous semester would be conducted from 27^th October 2020 for students of BA LLB/ BBA LLB.

What must be noted over here is that examinations for two different semesters, 10 different subjects are being conducted with less than a month’s notice, with just one week’s gap between exams of different semesters and that too externals being in offline mode!

Thus, the decision of conducting offline exams is not only ill-timed but also arbitrary.

Shrugging off the Responsibility

The BCI’s notice further states that Universities must adhere to COVID-19 protocol and ensure that the norm of social distancing is followed in the campus and all class rooms and examination halls are properly sanitized from time to time. BCI further directed that safety and health of the students should not be compromised at any cost.

Practically speaking, is it possible for the Colleges to ensure that World Health Organisation’s social distancing norms of maintaining 3 feet distance from others is followed everywhere, from entry and exit gates, to staircases, lifts, corridors etc. Further, will the colleges really sanitize the entire college - every single bench, door knob, switches, railings of staircase, lift buttons, handles again and again when hundreds and thousands of students will appear for exams in different batches.

The answer is “NO” as evidenced by the fact that IP University’s engineering students were made to sign a self-declaration with respect to offline exams which categorically stated that “I am aware that in spite of following all precautions I may get affected with COVID-19 and I will not hold the College/ University/ School/ Students/ Staff etc. responsible for it.”[1] See how simply the responsibility has been shrugged off by the authorities which themselves are responsible for unnecessarily putting students in an extremely risky situation at first place!

There is no way one can tell who might be a carrier of the virus, as this dreadful disease has fairly long incubation period. Even temperature checks are of no good in case of asymptomatic patients.

Added woes for outside Delhi students

A great number of students from all over the country come to Delhi to pursue their higher education. However due to closure of colleges and subsequent imposition of the lockdown due to COVID-19, all the students have returned to their home states, leaving their rental and paying guest accommodations.

In the times of coronavirus, we all know that stress is already taking a toll on the mental and physical well-being of numerous people. In such a situation the GGSIPU’s decision to conduct offline examinations is bound to cause additional undue stress, as students will be forced to undertake long journeys in public transport and then lookout for their basic needs like shelter and food. And, of course the exam stress on the top of it!

Supreme Court’s Recent Observations

The Hon’ble Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, B R Gavai and Krishna Murari while refusing to postpone UPSC Prelims, in an Order dated 30^th September 2020, observed that “This is not a case of ‘students’ appearing, these are to be public servants.”

No one can dispute that the IP University wants to conduct offline exams for college-going ‘students’ and not some aspiring ‘public servants.’ The Supreme Court’s rationale clearly shows the contrasting difference between the two situations and how making ‘students’ appear for offline exams in the current circumstances caused by COVID-19 would be highly undesirable, unwarranted and unjustified.

Law being a Theoretical Subject

When the entire world is adapting and evolving to face the new challenges thrown by the COVID-19 pandemic, the IP University still wants to stick to its old method of mugging up and filling sheets.

Unlike Medical Science and Engineering, Law is a theoretical subject which can easily be assessed through online mode through direct, indirect, application-based questions, case study methods, essay writing and even by pen and paper method in which sheets can be scanned and submitted. This method has been opted by most of the Universities including the Delhi University.

Situation can Worsen with Drop in Temperatures

Dreadful situation caused by the pandemic is likely to get worse with drop in temperatures. Researchers from Europe and China have found that drop temperature in the environment increases the severity of COVID-19 symptoms. The potency of the virus increases making the disease is more severe in colder months than warmer ones, and that the dry indoor air is likely to encourage more rapid spread of the disease.[2]

It’s highly inconsiderate (to say the least) on part of the IP University to conduct the Offline Exams for law students amid a Pandemic which has taken life of more than one million people around the world, while those who managed to recover still suffer the damage caused by coronavirus to their body.

Read the GGSIPU's External Exams notification:

Read BCI's guidelines dated 27.05.2020:

Read BCI's Press Release dated 09.06.2020:

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