DU OBE protest: The student protest at Delhi University in Jantar Mantar lasted for about eight hours yesterday, April 12.
Students, after participating in seven to eight protests earlier, were forced by authorities to take OBE protests (open book tests) outside the campus. time, with the suspension of subject 144 university. The protest started at 11am. Himani Singh, a university student, said that by five o’clock the crowd had dropped to 50-60 students.
However he says they (students) are not disappointed. “Ankurji (Ankur Dhama, Regional Chairman of the National Student Association of India or INSO) submitted a memorandum to the MHRD (Department of Human Resource Development, now known as the Department of Education or MoE),” he said. Students are determined not to leave anything out of their OBE application.
Also read: Delhi University mega blast protest: “We want OBE” on 4 April 2022.
What led to the protests? Even for semester students, varsity has decided to go with offline tests, or with a pen and paper scheduled for May and June. This has led to students holding protests demanding that their exams be conducted in an OBE manner. Even semester students argue that varsity forces them to write exams offline despite the fact that about 70 percent of their syllabus was completed online. After the administration announced their plans to hold the project, students began protesting the decision and raised their demands in a few memoranda.
On Monday, April 5, an estimated 1000 protesters marched on the Arts Faculty demanding that the university revoke its decision. Many students during the protest were reportedly detained but later released. Now, students have decided to start a hunger strike in order to articulate their need for OBE firmly.
University Releases Rest Responding to student complaints, University has issued a notice announcing all other students who will be running. According to the instructions in the notice, students will be given an additional 30 minutes to write the exam “as a special one-time measure.”
In addition, additional selection of questions will be provided to students. Varsity also said it would conduct phase 2 examinations for students who completed the exam form but were unable to “for good reason.” The deadline for submitting the exam form, as determined by the university, is April 15. After a major protest demanding open online exams, the University of Delhi advised students to maintain law and order in the school and focus on their preparations. tests.
“The university advises students to maintain peace and order and order. They should focus on their studies and preparation for future exams, ”read a statement from DU proctor Rajni Abbi on Thursday. It also embraces “good / constructive solutions to problems, if any”. “Students are advised to refrain from engaging in illegal activities.” As recently as Monday, students protested on the North Campus demanding that their final semester exams be conducted online.
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“There are 62 universities run by the MHRD. Among them, 52 have already approved online tests. Mumbai University, IIT, Allahabad University (AU) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU) are among them, ”explained the student. “As many universities have adopted online exams, we are also optimistic,” he said.
The memorandum of Ankur Dhama and student activist Pawan Badhana has been handed over to Vineet Joshi, MHRD secretary, who will mainly decide on the memorandum. The MHRD told students that they would review the memorandum and return to the students on Monday, April 18. Until then, the students had decided to stay and watch. “There are no planned protests at this time,” Himani said. “Everyone has hope and is looking forward to the good news.
We also have tests and homework to focus on. There is probably no time left for preparations, ”he adds. He also said that if it is not OBE, students will also be happy with mixed tests. Students say the DU board just needs to understand their concerns and deal with them appropriately. DU students had planned this as a major protest and have begun campaigning for more students to join them on social media.
However, only a few hundred students came to Jantar Mantar, the site chosen for the protest. “There was a problem reaching everyone,” said Himani Sigh, a university student. “The exams are just around the corner and we have very little time left to prepare. We also piled on the homework and the teachers always reminded us of the application dates. And for this reason, many students who did not know about the protest could not come, ”he added.
The application has various reasons behind it. Students are concerned about the high cost of accommodation they will have to rent to write exams offline, as hostels are not accessible to everyone. There are also VISA news for international students. More importantly, students are concerned about their grades. As they learn more about their online curriculum, writing offline exams will be more taxing, they say.
After the first protests, the DU Board made some changes in its tests. He gave an extra 30 minutes for students to write the exams and promised to give extra lessons to compensate for the loss of the learning program due to COVID-19. Students, however, are dissatisfied and unsure to stop applying for exam online.
They also said that notification of offline exams was also recently offered and they still had very little time to prepare for exams, a situation where extra time and extra lessons were “unnecessary”. Another concern is that students from other universities who will be writing online exams will get a good percentage, while they often benefit less from offline exams. “It is a form of discrimination and will affect our employment opportunities after college,” Himani said.
