Clouds of confusion are looming large over Delhi University as students are in a dilemma about the dates for the forthcoming examinations in December. Even as DU has declared fresh dates for the first semester exams in 13 science courses, no one knows if exams will start according to the given dates as the debate on the semester system doesn’t seem to end.
Says Ghazala Amin, associate professor of history, mass communication at Jesus and Mary College, “We are looking for a solution on how to set a proper system in place which will benefit students. We are not against the semester system, but we still have to figure out how we should come up with a decision that will benefit students and give them enough time to study. As of now, we haven’t given out official dates for exams. Let’s see how we fix our dates for in-house exams.”
Dr Hemchand Jain, executive member DUTA confirms that DUTA will not let exams take place, as decided in the General Body meeting on October 22. “We’re still against the semester system and also plan to hold protests again this Friday. Students are with us, and there will be no exams as we have extended the strike. There will be no exams according to the semester system,” he adds.
Amidst all the confusion and arguments, students tell us how they are clueless about the final dates of exams and the system has in a way made a mockery of their academic sessions. Sonali Gupta, a Chemistry (Hons.) student from Hansraj College complains, “Even though dates have been officially declared, there are rumours floating all around the college campus. Sometimes they say practical exams would start in the first week of November and then there are some who say we’ll have exams according to the annual system. I feel the authorities are equally confused.”
Students from streams other than Science complain that the debate has affected their studying schedule as well. Chandan, a commerce student says, “We have not completed our syllabus and though the semester system is not applicable in our field, all through the year many strikes were held in our college and I really don’t know how the lecturers will finish the syllabus before our internals. Also, a subject teacher told us that only 50 per cent of our syllabus might be included in the internals.”
As most children are confused about exams Harsha Tyagi, a Zoology student from Delhi University confirms the dates saying, “Although there is no official announcement on the date, some of our teachers told us that practical exams will start from November 23 and theory will start from December 6. One of our teachers told us to not get too confused about the dates and start studying. Some of my friends from other colleges are totally flummoxed about the examination dates. It’s October end, and it’s time they tell us about the exact dates and sort things out with DUTA members.”