Delhi University After a gap of more than two years, the physical mode has recorded an “impressive” attendance of 98.3 per cent on the first day of examinations, despite prolonged protests by a section of students against conducting offline examinations. The offline examinations for second and third year undergraduate students at the university began on Wednesday after a gap of two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of 67,948 students appeared for the paper in the courses that were conducted in two sessions. In the morning session, 44,311 students or 97.5 per cent of the registered students appeared for the examination, DS Rawat, the dean of examinations of the university, told PTI.
In the morning session, 1,124 registered students did not appear in the examination. Attendance in the evening session was even better at 99.8 percent. Rawat said out of 23,684 registered students, 23,637 appeared for the exam during the evening session. He said the numbers on the first day were impressive.
“I would say it is better than the previous years. This has come despite the inertia among the students against the physical mode of the exam. There were also some protests, Rawat said. 19 who have missed the test due to infection or were in quarantine because someone close to them tested positive will be given another chance in August.
“(Such students) will be asked to produce a medical certificate and they will be given another chance to take the exam in August,” he said. Since the students are taking the offline exam after two years, the university has given them relief by giving them an additional 30 minutes for the exam.
“The exam duration for undergraduate, postgraduate, professional programs is three hours and additional 30 minutes are being provided as a special measure,” Rawat said. Before the offline examinations, the students of second and third year demonstrated demanding open book examination.
Several students also filed a petition in the Delhi High Court seeking to take the exam in open-book mode in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The court had earlier this month refused to interfere with the university’s decision to conduct the exam in physical mode.
read all Breaking News , today’s fresh news And IPL 2022 Live Updates Here.