The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked Delhi University (DU) to clarify its stand on the evaluation process of final-year undergraduate students who had appeared in the first phase of the online open-book examination (OBE). It said there was no reason for the varsity to seek time till October-end to declare the results if comparative grading of the students was not required to done.
A bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Subramonium Prasad asked the varsity to submit information on the number of students, and their subject streams, who have requested for comfort letters to travel abroad for studies.
In the CGPA system, students are evaluated on the basis of the average of grade points obtained by them for all semesters after the completion of the course. Under the SGPA grading system, the students are graded on their performance in a single session or semester.
The court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Joginder Sukhija, who sought early declaration of results as his daughter was seeking admission in a foreign university.
The application was filed in a pending petition by a law student Prateek Sharma, who had sought better facilities for physically disabled students in the online examination.
In his plea, Sukhija said the draft comfort letter that the varsity had mailed him, during the course of the hearing, will not suffice. He said the last date for enrolment at Cambridge University is October 10 whereas the draft letter refers to declaration of results by the end of October, 2020.
On Wednesday, senior advocate BB Gupta and advocate Kamal Gupta, members of the Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC), said the Cumulative Grade Point Assessment (CGPA) and Semester Grade Point Assessment (SGPA) do not require any comparative grading of students, and there does not appear any clarity in this regard from Delhi University.
Senior advocate Sachin Datta said final-year postgraduate students are assigned marks on a percentage basis and not through grading.
Professor Ajay Arora from the university,who is the grievance officer, told the court he received mails from 47 students for expeditious declaration of results. He said in his estimate, not more than 400 final-year students, both in undergraduate and postgraduate courses, would plan to travel abroad for further studies.
The court then asked the varsity to clarify its stand on the evaluation process, while suggesting that the results should be declared by September 15 if the comparative method is not being used. It asked the university to file an affidavit and posted the matter till September 15.
Delhi University acting dean (examination) DS Rawat wrote to all colleges on Wednesday, asking them to expedite the evaluation process. “I’m to inform you that the examination branch is in receipt of requests from students who have appeared for the first phase of OBE for an early declaration of results for the different undergraduate courses. Some students have taken up the matter with the court …you are requested to advise your teachers to expedite the evaluation process so that the same is completed within 5-6 days. This may be treated as urgent since the examination branch has to produce the tentative schedule of the results before the court on 22.09.2020,” the dean said in the letter sent to all the principals of DU colleges.
Source : Hindustan Times
