Amid Covid-19 cases spiralling out of control in the national capital, Delhi University announced its decision to defer final year examinations.
Exams for final year students of all courses, which were scheduled to begin from May 15, will now commence on June 1.
To ensure students’ safety, the exams will be conducted virtually and will follow an open book format.
"We held a meeting on Saturday with all the heads of departments and deans. The meeting was chaired by the vice-chancellor. It was decided that the exams will be postponed to June 1," D S Rawat, Dean of Examinations, DU, said.
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This development comes in the backdrop of the national capital’s positivity rate reducing to 28.33 per cent amid rising number of Covid-19 infections on Sunday.
Delhi also logged 20,394 new infections and 407 Covid-19 fatalities during the last 24 hours, according to a bulletin issued by the Delhi health department. This is the second day on the trot that the capital has recorded over 400 fatalities due to the deadly virus.
Meanwhile, the DU has said that the decision on exams for intermediate semesters will be taken later.
When asked if the final exams could be deferred beyond June 1, Rawat said it would not be possible.
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"Many students have got job offers and in order to accept them, they need to have their final results. Students have also applied to foreign universities and require results within a time frame," he said.
Teachers have been given time till May 10 to submit question papers.
Teachers and students have been demanding the deferment of exams and even cancellation.
The Delhi University Teachers' Association had written to acting vice-chancellor Professor PC Joshi over the issue.
"The university must take a sensitive view of the situation that students and teachers find themselves in -- no one is in a position to write or conduct examinations at this moment.
"Hence, we request you to consider cancelling examinations for all students and decide upon alternative means to evaluate students. Deadlines for submission of internal assessment must be extended," they had said in a letter dated April 30.
(With PTI inputs)
