High Court directs Delhi University to expedite results for final year students going abroad for higher studies; Details

DU Results: The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi University to expedite the release the results of final year students, especially of those courses where the students might have obtained admissions in foreign universities for postgraduate studies, news agency ANI has reported. Apart from this, the Delhi High Court, in its Tuesday directive, also told the university to set up a dedicated email ID, where students send their requests and the details of the foreign varsity where they have been accepted so that the Delhi University can directly address a request letter to the foreign university concerned, news agency PTI reported.

Apart from that, the court also told the university to assure foreign varsities that the results of the concerned final year DU students would be communicated as soon as possible. This order came after the university informed the Delhi High Court that a single HC judge had on July 7 passed an order stating that the students who had obtained postgraduate admissions in foreign universities could write to the Dean of Examinations and inform him about the admissions. The judge had then added that DU would then have to make the efforts to expedite the results of such courses.

The university recently started conducting open-book examinations through the online mode amid opposition from teachers as well as students. However, once the university got the go-ahead from the Delhi High Court, the exams commenced from August 10.

Tuesday’s order was a continuation of the Monday directive, which told the university to set up the email ID within a week. DU was further told to publicise the information regarding this on its website and duly copy it to all the colleges.

The university was also directed that in the affidavit that would be sent to the foreign universities by the DU would contain a cut-off date for the declaration of results for all the streams of the final-year courses.

Moreover, on Monday, the court directed DU to begin the final-year examinations through the offline mode by September 14. These would be conducted for students in the PwD category or any others who were unable to appear for the open book examinations and would now be appearing through the offline mode. The university would also have to work out the modalities regarding the stay and transport of the PwD students who had left Delhi during the pandemic.

This year, the exams were delayed and held through the unconventional method due to the coronavirus pandemic and the resultant lockdown that has kept India in home isolation for a period of nearly five months. For a long time, the educational institutions in the country were postponing the exams while hoping for the country’s unlocking, but soon it became clear that the country was nowhere near its peak in terms of the coronavirus cases and so, a few months ago, the Delhi University pitched the idea of conducting open book examinations online.

This led to protests from students and teachers, who said that some students were stranded in remote parts of the country and there would be technical difficulties as well as lack of resources in giving exams this way. They filed a petition with the Delhi HC, in which they also requested the court to direct the university to declare the results of the final-year students based on their performance in the previous years and semesters, like the university has done for the first and second-year students.

Since the commencement of online open-book examinations on August 10, there have been multiple complaints from students regarding issues with the examination portal and the lack of coordination in the conducting of exams. Students have been facing problems in uploading their answer sheets using their portal, while students in remote areas have been missing the submission deadlines due to poor internet connectivity. This has caused them to worry about whether their answer sheets would be considered for assessment or not.