On the very first day of online mock tests being conducted by the University of Delhi, the exercise ran into glitches with several final-year students claiming that they were either unable to register for the test or received question papers for a completely different semester.
The mock tests are being conducted in three slots, from 4 to 8 July, to prepare final-year students for Open Book Examinations (OBEs) that have now been postponed to 10 July.
WHAT ARE STUDENTS SAYING?
- Rashi Sahu, a final-year-student at DU’s Kirori Mal College, says that she’s been unable to register for the mock test since 7:30 am. “It’s time for the second slot and even now, I am unable to register my roll number on DU’s website.”
Many of her friends, says Sahu, are facing similar problems.
- Tamanna Sahara, a third-year student at DU, claims that although she was able to register, question papers were not available on the University’s website. “When I logged in, at 7:30 am, question papers were not getting downloaded. Now, in the second slot, they have put up question papers meant to be in the first slot.”
- Aman Agarwal, a third-year student of BCom Hons, said that when he logged in at 7:30 am, the question paper he downloaded was for BCom fourth semester.”
- Deepak, a third-year Political Hons student, said that “he could only find question papers meant for the BA programme.”
- At about 4 pm, after several students complained that the site had crashed completely, The Quint tried to access the website. While the website opened on desktop, on mobile, it displayed a ‘504 Gateway Time-out’ error.
Delhi University’s Response
Speaking to The Quint, Professor Vinay Gupta, Dean of Examinations, DU, said that the allegations made by the students are incorrect as the mock test is only meant to familiarise final-year students with the process of downloading and uploading answer scripts.
He also said that 80,000 students had successfully logged on to the portal.
“In the mock test, we have not linked students with any specific paper. Since there are around 8,000 papers, you can’t put each and every one of them for a mock test. As mentioned in the notice, these are indicative question papers, and around 38 of them have been uploaded for the mock test.”Vinay Gupta, Dean of Examinations, DU
Dean Gupta said that it is also wrong to suggest that BA students are getting BCom question papers as they can choose between the 38-odd question papers for the sole purpose of “getting accustomed to the process of uploading and downloading papers during the final OBE exam.”
He also said that OBEs for final-year students would be conducted from 10 July and the same should be treated “as final and not as tentative.”
DUTA Disagrees
Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) office bearer, Prof Abha Dev Habib, said that if the mock tests were only meant to familiarise students with the procedure, the University should have uploaded just one generic paper.
“The students were expecting to see papers that were relevant to them. If they had to upload old papers, that were mock in nature, they could have just asked students to write on movies or write about the quarantine period. This is nonsense... why are they giving papers to students that are irrelevant?”Prof Abha Dev Habib, DUTA office bearer
DU Reduced to Laughing Stock: NSUI
Lokesh Chugh, national secretary of Congress’ student wing NSUI, said that Delhi University has been reduced to a ‘laughing stock’ in front of the students.
“Official statement suggests that the mock test aims to make students aware about how to download questions and upload answers. This is ridiculous, and reckless measures like these cannot be tolerated, no matter what. Imposition of ‘Open Book Exams’ is meaningless. This is not the way a mock test should be conducted,” he said.
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