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In a press release dated April 22, Delhi University’s School of Open Learning (SOL) published the various measures it has undertaken to ensure IT based support for its students.

The ongoing pandemic has led to serious doubts about a whole lot of things. Students, especially, are puzzled about whether exams will take place or not; if yes, what will be their mode; whether the semester will be extended and so on. DU SOL recently released some of the highlights it has achieved, during the lockdown period, in providing the necessary online support services to its students. As claimed by the release, more than 95% of SOL students have already submitted their online examination forms on the SOL website. SOL’s portal for filling of examination forms and other student related activities is different from DU’s portal, so the students need not fill the online form twice. SOL also stated that it has completed all pre-examination activities and is ready to comply with the directions of the Examination branch regarding the conduction of the exams. It also shared the news of its tie up with Microsoft 365 to offer online academic counselling sessions. Each student and faculty/guest faculty has been given access to Microsoft Team Account, whose details have been uploaded on the dashboard of the students and have been sent through SMS as well. This service is still in the process of being extended to every SOL student. Students facing any kind of issues, with creating the Microsoft Team Account, can send their queries to the official mail ID – ‘[email protected]’.

Lastly, SOL also advised all the students not to believe in unauthentic information and regularly visit the official website of DU and SOL for the latest information. On being asked how easy and accessible are these services, an SOL student told DU Beat, “I had no problem in filling my examination form, however I haven’t received any SMS regarding counseling yet and I am still waiting for my Microsoft Team login ID.”

Thecurrent pandemic has presented us all with difficult choices and authorities must ensure not only the provision of the necessary resources but also their accessibility to everyone.

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Ipshika Ghosh

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After protests by School of Open Learning (SOL) students against cancelled classes and lack of study material, The Delhi High Court (HC) orders a stay on semester exams scheduled in December for SOL students.

SOL had decided to implement the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) from the academic session 2019-20. This change meant that SOL would move into the system which other Delhi University (DU) colleges follow, with exams at the end of every semester instead of annual exams. The hasty and ill-implemented nature of this decision led to several problems such as lack of study material, incomplete syllabus in most honours courses, and cancelled classes.

The initiative which may have been well-intended, was poorly implemented. On 17^th November 2019, SOL students came out to protest against the Vice Chancellor (VC) for the same. The protest was in the form of a funeral march for the VC. They had also held a protest outside the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) where they had tonsured their hair and sent it to the Union HRD minister, Delhi Education Minister, UGC, DU, and SOL authorities as a symbolic representation of how they had been orphaned by the authorities.

On 5^thNovember, four student activists had moved the court regarding this matter and their plea was accepted by the Delhi HC. The HC has ordered a stay on the December examinations in SOL by the University. The University will now hold both semester examinations at the end of the second semester, much like the method that was followed in SOL before the implementation of CBCS this academic session.

The students in a statement reported by the Times of India said, “Delhi High Court took DU on all the irregularities and violations evident in the manner in which CBCS has been implemented. Apart from pushing back of November-December exams, the University has to report to an annual nodal officer on the preparations made for the smooth running of the CBCS program in SOL.”

However, SOL director CS Dubey said that the University gave suggestions to the courts. A senior official goes on to say, “If IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University) conducts exams of two semesters together, so can we. We have tried our best to make sure that SOL students should be at par with regular students. But some organisations wanted to disrupt that. There are many students who still want to give the exam in December this year.” They point out that exams in December would mean that will have to burden their resources, as different papers will have to be prepared and the number of days extended.

(With excerpts from the Times Of India)

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Prabhanu Kumar Das

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