The Department of Sociology at Delhi University has written to the administration expressing their reservations against the proposed open book examination for final-year students. The department also suggested awarding an ‘estimate mark' based on the average of previous semesters plus the internal marks to calculate total marks for the final year.
The Delhi University, on May 14, had announced that exams for final year students will begin from July 1. The university also said that it will opt for open book examination in case the coronavirus threat persists till July.
The Department of Sociology, in a statement given on Sunday, said: “Based on the experiences of online teaching and making available digital course materials as well as the feedback from students regarding the same, the faculty of the Department of Sociology has already sent its reservations on holding online examinations due to various impediments that students face.”
Students of the department had earlier written to the Delhi University officials pointing to various difficulties in appearing for online examinations ranging from lack of connectivity to coping with the sudden shift to the open-book style of exams.
Internal Assessment
The department proposed that instead of conducting end semester examinations for the final year, students should be “awarded an estimate mark which will be the simple average of end semester examination marks” obtained in the previous semesters.
The department said that since most departments have completed their internal assessments tests, the total mark for the final semester will be “the sum of the estimated end semester examination mark plus the already available internal assessment mark”.
The department proposed that special exams can be conducted for second semester and fourth semester students who wish to improve their performance.
The department also said: “The span period for this graduating batch and all batches who were to take examinations in summer 2020 may be increased by one year.”
