The Delhi University administration has decided to defer examinations for its final year students by two weeks in the light of the current COVID situation.

Dean Examinations Diwan Rawat said that the decision was taken following a meeting attended by all deans and chaired by the acting vice-chancellor. He also stated that the most immediate factor for the postponement was the large number of COVID cases among the university’s examination branch. The exams were scheduled to take place in May-June.

“There are 16 positive cases in the exam branch itself, and we lost two of them on Sunday morning. Because of this, the exam branch is closed for three days. Since exams depend on faculty members and students, these two weeks will give some time to the situation to stabilise,” said Rawat.

Before this, the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) had written to acting vice-chancellor PC Joshi, requesting the postponement of the examinations. “Many Heads of Departments have already written to the Dean, Examinations requesting that the exams for final year/ semester students be postponed in view of the number of COVID positive cases amongst students and teachers. Once again, 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,” the DUTA had written.

The current decision applies to final semester and final year students. The deferred exams will be conducted in the online open book exam mode. “It’s difficult for us to postpone the exams more than this because it will be difficult to evaluate and declare results on time. Many students have job offers and offers from foreign universities and require their results within a time frame,” said Rawat.

The university has already stated that decisions regarding examinations for students from other semesters will be taken “at a later stage”.