Last Update: March 04, 2023, 18:56 IST
Soon after the exams were cancelled, cancellation notices were put up outside the gates of the centers (file photo)
DU officials said that the SOL exam which was to be held on Sunday has also been cancelled, but the rest of the dates will remain the same, adding that the dates for both these subjects will be notified soon.
Delhi University’s School of Open Learning suddenly announced the cancellation of Saturday’s exams for BA and BCom first-year programs while students were writing papers and asked them to hand over their answer sheets.
University officials said that the SOL exam which was to be held on Sunday has also been cancelled, but the rest of the dates will remain the same, adding that the dates for both these subjects will be notified soon.
Saturday was the first day of examination for the students of the two programs and it was to be conducted in two shifts – morning and evening. A senior university official said that due to an “error”, all students were assigned the morning shift, which is why the exams had to be cancelled.
As soon as the exam was cancelled, cancellation notices were pasted outside the gates of the centres.
Sangeeta, a first-year BA student, said she reached her assigned center on time and the exam began normally, but minutes later students were informed about the cancellation.
“My exam center was Miranda House. I reached on time, checked my seat and sat down. We filled our details and the question papers were distributed. We were given the allotted time to read the question paper.
“Answer sheets were distributed and as soon as I picked up my pen, the invigilator told us that the exam has been cancelled. We were not told any reason.
Sangeeta said hundreds of students had gathered outside the center demanding answers. They found a notice pasted at the main gate of the college, which read, “As per the information received from the examination branch, the SOL papers for the morning and evening sessions today have been cancelled. The next date of examination will be informed later. The university official said that the exams for both Saturday and Sunday have been cancelled.
“New roll numbers will be issued to the students. It was a blunder by SOL. We are probing it. We are determining whether it was human error or computer error,” registrar Vikas Gupta told PTI.
“We will inform the next date for the examination of these two subjects. Rest of the date-sheet remains the same,” he said.
In a message issued by Delhi University, its assistant registrar said the exam was canceled “due to unavoidable circumstances”.
It added, “The next date for these examinations will be announced later.”
Shivani, whose exam center was Atma Ram Sanatan College of DU, accused the administration of negligence. “They should have told us at least a day before. So many students have come here from far and wide. They were told at the last minute,” she said.
Student group Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) condemned the mismanagement and inefficiency of canceling the exams. Its workers along with the students of SOL staged a protest at SOL Bhavan.
The students later organized a rally at the Faculty of Arts, Gate No. 4 and submitted a memorandum addressed to the DU Vice-Chancellor.
“This exposes the sheer mismanagement and anarchy that has become the hallmark of SOL and DU administration, who are least concerned about the future of lakhs of students studying in SOL,” KYS said in a statement.
read all latest education news Here
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)