DU committee rejects 25 special-chance cases

Protest outside vice chancellors office

Twenty-five cases of students who had applied for a  ‘special chance’ to write exams even after the expiry of the stipulated six-year period were rejected at a Delhi University meeting on Thursday.

“The meeting was headed by the registrar instead of the vice chancellor and he was not ready to listen to our arguments. Some 300 to 600 students used to be considered under the special chance category earlier,” said Amitabh Chakravarty, a member of the committee.
Ten of the cases taken up at Thursday’s standing committee meeting were of students who had only one paper to clear, he said. It has been the practice over the years that a standing committee of DU's academic council looks into the genuineness of the cases of students who apply for a special chance to write an exam they failed to sit for earlier.

But a DU notification on October 10 said, “It is hereby notified that applications for grant of ‘special chance’ beyond the stipulated period shall not be considered by the university.” Of the 23 members in the standing committee, nine opposed this decision. Students, whose cases were rejected, argued that the university should have given prior notice.

“I have only one paper left from my third year. l was asked to come on October 14 to submit the form but when I came, the administration showed the notice saying this is not possible any more,” said Ashish Kumar, a BCom student from the School of Open Learning.

After the meeting, students protested against the issue outside VC’s office. Other issues agitating them  included evaluation of one paper, by three teachers, doing away with  re-evaluation, no prep leave before exams, mere one-day gaps between papers and an `arbitrary' attendance policy.

“If three teachers check one paper, they will not be able to judge us properly which will lead to decline in marks. Moreover, we will not be able to seek re-evaluation as well,” said Pragya Chawla, a first year student from Miranda House College. However, DU officials said they will look into individual special chance cases.