Delhi University registers 98.3% attendance on first day of offline exams

Delhi University has registered an "impressive" attendance of 98.3 per cent on the first day of physical mode examinations after a gap of over two years, despite prolonged protests by a section of students against holding offline exams.

Offline examinations for second- and third-year undergraduate students at the university began on Wednesday after a two-year gap due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 67,948 students appeared for the papers across courses that were conducted in two sessions.

In the morning session, 44,311 students, or 97.5 per cent of those registered, appeared for the exams, D S Rawat, the university's dean of examination, told PTI.

As many as 1,124 registered students did not appear for the exams in the morning session.

The attendance was even better in the evening session at 99.8 per cent.

Rawat said 23,637 out of 23,684 registered students appeared for the exams during the evening session.

The number on the first day was impressive, he added.

"I would say it is better than previous years. This has come despite inertia among students against the physical mode of examination. There were some protests as well, he said.

Rawat also said the students who have missed the exams due to COVID-19 infection or were under quarantine as someone close to them tested positive will be given another chance in August.

"(Such students) will be asked to provide medical certificates and they will be given another chance in August to give the exams, he said.

As students are appearing for offline exams after two years, the university has given them a breather by granting additional 30 minutes for the exam.

"The duration of exams of undergraduate, post-graduate, professional programmes is three hours and additional 30 minutes are being provided as a special one-time measure," Rawat added.

Ahead of the offline examinations, the second- and third-year students staged protests demanding an open book examination.

Several students also filed a petition in the Delhi High Court seeking examinations in the open-book mode in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The court early this month refused to interfere with the university's decision to hold examinations in physical mode.