JOIN USTaking away last refuge of students
Delhi University gears up for another change as a notification issued by the dean of examination reads, “In the semester mode of Undergraduate Courses of Examinations where answer sheets are valued by joint examiners or board of examiners, there shall not be revaluation facilities with effect from the examination to be held in November December-2013.”
According to the professors, the university gets around 15000 applications for revaluation each semester for which the fee was hiked from Rs 250 to Rs 1000 per script last year. Scrapping the process is bound to ensue a furore in the student community that seeks hope in revaluations. Metrolife speaks to students and teachers to gauge their opinion.
A first year Political Science student and Delhi University Students Union Secretary, Karishma Thakur, says, “We were shocked to know that the university is doing away with the revaluation process. Do they really mean that the teachers assigned for checking cannot make a mistake at all? How can they take away our right and play with our careers.” Sounding perturbed, Karishma adds, “The student union is carrying out its own surveys to gauge the opinion in the academic circles. We will take up this issue on a proper platform and invite teachers, students and the vice chancellor post Diwali for a dialogue over it.” An informal round of student seminars have already taken place in Jesus and Mary and Hansraj college, informs Karishma.
There will be three joint examiners entrusted with the task of checking three different sections of the paper, respectively- two out of them will check two questions each from two different sections of the paper and the third will check one question along with calculating the total marks, says Bhupinder Chowdhary, a professor of History at Maharaja Agrasen College.
Voicing his concerns, he adds, “The argument that this move will help in decreasing the burden on teachers at the expense of students’ careers, is not justified. With the introduction of semester system back in 2010 and now, the projects and presentations for foundation courses, the real teaching has already taken a back seat.” He emphatically adds, “ With over three lakh students, 100s of subjects and semester, DU students and teachers are anyway overburdened. We certainly need to reconsider our policies if the academic life of the university is hampered by such processes instead of sticking to a change once it is introduced.”
Raising an alternative viewpoint, Abhilasha Chauhan, a first year English (Hons) student, says, “I have gone through the process of getting three of my papers revalued after Class 12 results. Nothing came of it and we just ended up shelling out our money and energies on it. Thinking of it as the last refuge is just a waste of time.” She adds, “One can only hope that the new checking process in DU doesn’t have any loopholes in it.”