85% DU students don’t want online open book exams, survey by teachers’ body finds

The DU Teachers' Association surveyed over 51,000 students from undergraduate and postgraduate courses to understand how well received the idea would be.

Delhi University | Commons

New Delhi: A staggering 85 per cent students of Delhi University have expressed unwillingness to write the online open book exam that the university is planning to conduct, a survey has found.

It found that only 15 per cent students agreed with the idea of an online open exam as their household supported it. The others said that conditions were not conducive for them to sit for such an exam.

Conducted by the Delhi University Teacher’s Association (DUTA), the survey gathered responses from over 51,000 students studying at the university at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

The university administration had decided to conduct online open book exams, specially for final semester students on a priority basis. The exam format includes students downloading the question paper from an online portal, answering it on a plain answer sheet, scanning the sheet and then uploading it back on to the portal. The examination rules allow for students to refer to their subject material while answering questions.

The plan has faced a lot of opposition from both teachers and students, who say it is “not-feasible”.

Only last week, the Sociology Department of Delhi University had also said that such an exam format is not feasible because only 50 per cent of the students in their department could attend online classes.

ThePrint reached out to the Dean Exams, Vinay Gupta though calls and messages, but was yet to receive a response until the time of publishing this report.

During an earlier interaction, Gupta had said that the online book exams are not really “online” because internet is required only to upload and download question papers.

What the survey found

The DUTA survey asked students a variety of questions to gauge how favourable they would be towards open book exams. The survey asked whether students were from undergraduate or postgraduate classes, whether they were from Delhi or outside, whether they were able to attend online classes conducted by various departments and colleges, what device they use to study, what kind of internet connection they use, etc.

The survey received 51,452 responses. Of this, 92 per cent of the students were enrolled in undergraduate courses, nearly 14 per cent were enrolled in open school (enrolled in correspondence courses) while the remaining 86 per cent were pursuing their degree from regular mode.

Of the total respondents, nearly 38 per cent of the students said that they were not able to access the online material even if it was provided to them and a large number of students were unable to attend online classes on platforms like Zoom and Google Meet.

Nearly 34 per cent students said they could not attend any online classes while only 28 per cent said they had been able to attend more than half of the online classes held. Nearly 39 per cent said they had attended less than half the classes.

A large number of students, more than 50 per cent, also said that they were not prepared for exams because they had gone back home, where they do not have the access to study material. More than 80 per cent students also said that they were unable to focus on studies because of stress and anxiety and hence feel unprepared for an exam.